Exploring the Professional Identity of Australian Custodial Health Nurses Through Workplace Satisfaction

The aim of the study is to explore professional identity to inform role development, recruitment and retention strategies for the highly specialised nursing population of Custodial Health Nurses (CHNs) who deliver health care to people detained in correctional centres, youth justice centres and police cells.

A survey including a demographic instrument and a context-specific version of Stamps Index of Work Satisfaction (IWS), which has two parts, was used in this quantitative workforce study.

Of the 982 CHN employed in public custodial health organisations eligible to undertake the survey, 127 (12.9%) completed the demographic questionnaire and 119 (12.1%) completed the survey in its entirety. Demographic characteristics are reported using frequency and percentage for categorical variables and mean and standard deviation for continuous variables. IWS analysis uses frequency and proportional matrices, and calculation of a final mean score establishing what pre-determined components impacted workplace satisfaction.

The Total IWS Score for the CHNs was 12.44 (range 0.9-37.1), representing a low level of workplace satisfaction overall. The least influential components were pay, organisational policy and task. However, the data also indicate that the CHNs experience moderately high levels of workplace satisfaction with (in preference order) professional status, autonomy and interaction, as the most significant positively influencing factors.

This study has found that overall CHNs experience their work in the same way as many other nursing specialties and embrace their professional nursing identity to thrive in this highly context-specific specialisation.

This research is the first quantitative measure of the experience of Australian CHNs' workplace satisfaction. Findings can be used to shape a more positive professional identity for CHNs and improve prospects for their future recruitment and retention.

The results of this study may inform the development of organisational policy, planning and role development of many areas of nursing; not only custodial health but primary health contexts of practice more generally.