Deterrents to Turnover Intention Among Hospital Nurses in South Korea: A Path Analysis

High turnover and turnover intention among nurses persists worldwide, necessitating a study of deterrents such as personal spiritual beliefs and posttraumatic growth (PTG). PTG refers to positive psychological changes that occur in response to struggle with highly stressful or traumatic experiences. This study aims to verify a hypothetical model that explains nurse turnover intention in South Korean hospitals since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This descriptive study used path and content analyses and surveyed 268 nurses working in hospitals in Seoul and Busan, South Korea, between March and June 2022, immediately after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. IBM SPSS Amos was used for the path analysis, and content analysis of open question responses was used to identify the nurses' personal spiritual beliefs. The study follows the reporting guidelines of STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE).

Factors affecting nurse turnover intention with direct effects were job satisfaction, burnout, and PTG. Employer support, job satisfaction, PTG, posttraumatic stress, and importance of spiritual beliefs had indirect effects on turnover intention. Job satisfaction, posttraumatic stress, burnout, PTG, employer support, and importance of spiritual beliefs contributed to total effects. Content analysis identified how 56.9% (of 144 responses) recognized the interplay of spiritual beliefs and PTG; however, 43.1% reported being unaffected spiritually by the pandemic experience. The importance of spiritual beliefs and PTG emerged as deterrents of turnover intention.

Positive practices, such as spiritual beliefs, employer support of nurse well-being, and PTG, directly and indirectly affected nurse turnover intention. This suggests that interventions are needed to enhance nurses' positive psychological and spiritual resources and practices during times of extreme workplace stress, as was prevalent during the pandemic.