Magnet Recognition, Leadership Responsiveness, and Nurse Moral Distress: A Multilevel Mediation Analysis

Moral distress is a pervasive challenge in nursing and has been associated with burnout, job dissatisfaction, and turnover. Although Magnet Recognition has been associated with more favorable nursing practice environments and nurse outcomes, little is known about the association between Magnet status and nurses' experiences of moral distress or the role of leadership responsiveness in this association. This study examined whether management responsiveness to patient care concerns accounted for part of the association between hospital Magnet status and nurse moral distress.

This was a cross-sectional observational study.

Data from the 2024 Penn Nurses4All Survey and the 2023 American Hospital Association Annual Survey were linked. The analytic sample included 18,678 direct care nurses from 1829 hospitals across 10 US states. The dependent variable was nurse moral distress, the independent variable was hospital Magnet status, and the mediator was nurse-reported management responsiveness to patient care concerns. A 2-1-1 multilevel mediation model using multilevel structural equation modeling was estimated to distinguish within- and between-hospital associations while accounting for the clustering of nurses within hospitals. Models adjusted for nurse- and hospital-level characteristics.

Nurses in Magnet hospitals reported lower levels of moral distress and more favorable assessments of management responsiveness than nurses in non-Magnet hospitals. At the between-hospital level, Magnet status was associated with higher management responsiveness (unstandardized coefficient b = 0.18, 95% CI = 0.15 to 0.21, p < 0.001), and higher management responsiveness was associated with lower moral distress (b = -0.31, 95% CI = -0.39 to -0.23, p < 0.001). Greater management responsiveness was also associated with lower moral distress at the within-hospital level (b = -0.34, 95% CI = -0.35 to -0.33, p < 0.001). The direct between-hospital association between Magnet status and moral distress remained statistically significant after accounting for management responsiveness (b = -0.05, 95% CI = -0.08 to -0.01, p = 0.011). The between-hospital indirect association between Magnet status and moral distress involving management responsiveness was statistically significant (b = -0.06, Monte Carlo 95% CI = -0.08 to -0.04, p < 0.001). Similar findings were observed using administrative responsiveness to nurse concerns.

Nurses working in Magnet hospitals reported lower levels of moral distress and more favorable assessments of management responsiveness than nurses working in non-Magnet hospitals. Management responsiveness statistically accounted for part of the observed between-hospital association between Magnet status and moral distress.

Leadership responsiveness to nurses' patient care concerns may represent an important and potentially modifiable organizational factor associated with moral distress. Organizational strategies to strengthen management responsiveness and nurses' ability to raise patient care concerns warrant further evaluation as approaches to supporting nurse well-being.