title: The Job Context Index: a guide for improving the 'fit' between nurses and their work environment.
abstract: Stress and burnout have reached crisis levels among hospital nurses. The authors of this paper address this problem with the development of a scale to improve the 'fit' between a nurse and his/her work environment, thereby potentially increasing satisfaction, and reducing stress and burnout. Approximately 1000 hospital nurses, randomly selected from a large eastern state, described their work in each of 10 clinical areas; their reports enabled the construction of the Job Context Index, which rank orders the 10 settings on three dimensions, including general work pressure/uncertainty, routinization of tasks, and co-worker interdependence. Nurses, as well as educators and administrators, may find their index a useful tool for matching nurses' temperaments and workstyles with the characteristics of the clinical areas in which they might be working.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Mansfield
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: McCool
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Vicary
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Packard
mesh_terms: D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007587:Job Description; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality; D010559:Personnel Management; D011897:Random Allocation