Workplace empowerment, job satisfaction and job stress among Italian mental health nurses: an exploratory study.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between staff nurses' structural empowerment, work stress and job satisfaction in two health care settings in Italy using Kanter's Empowerment Theory.


BACKGROUND
With the current scarcity of economic resources and shortage of nurses, it is essential to empower nurses to perform at a high level to ensure high-quality patient care. Structural empowerment is a process that can optimize use of nursing skills and professional expertise, thereby increasing job satisfaction among nurses.


METHODS
A convenience sample of 77 nursing staff employed in the Department of Mental Health in central Italy was used in this study (return rate 64%).


RESULTS
Structural empowerment was significantly related to their job satisfaction (r = 0.506, P < 0.001), as was global empowerment (r = 0.62). Empowerment also had a significant negative relationship to nurses' work stress (r = -0.28, P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study support Kanter's theory of structural empowerment in an Italian nursing sample--a previously unstudied population.


CONCLUSIONS
Organizational administration must make every effort to create organizational structures and systems that empower nurses to practice according to professional standards and optimize the use of their knowledge and expertise.
Lautizi
Marina
M
Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Laschinger
Heather K S
HK
Ravazzolo
Sandra
S
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D009729:Nursing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011209:Power, Psychological; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D011594:Psychometrics; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D017132:Workplace