How Changes in New Graduate Nurses' Transition Experience Mediate the Link Between Readiness for Practice and Job...

This study aimed to examine how changes in new graduate nurses' transition experience from the first to the second year of clinical practice mediate the relationship between readiness for practice and job embeddedness, from the perspective of the conservation of resources theory.

A retrospective longitudinal design was employed.

The participants were 743 nurses who completed the New Nurse e-Cohort Panel Study 2 months before graduation (T1), 1 year after graduation (T2) and 2 years after graduation (T3); were employed in general hospitals; and were working in fixed units at both T2 and T3. Data were collected through an online questionnaire and analysed using PROCESS Macro Model 4 with 5000 bootstrap samples.

Readiness for practice (T1) was positively correlated with the change in the transition experience (T3-T2) as well as job embeddedness (T3). Readiness for practice (T1) directly influenced job embeddedness (T3), while change in the transition experience (T3-T2) partially mediated this relationship, accounting for 24.8% of the total effect.

Readiness for practice during nursing education exerts both direct and indirect effects on job embeddedness through early transition experiences. The findings provide longitudinal evidence linking pre-employment competency with subsequent workforce retention outcomes.

Strengthening readiness for practice and providing targeted transition support during the first 2 years of practice can promote job embeddedness and improve workforce stability among early-career nurses.

This study identifies the first 2 years of practice as a crucial intervention window by revealing the link between early educational readiness and subsequent job embeddedness.

STROBE.

No patient or public contribution.