Determinants of nurses' job satisfaction: the role of work-family conflict, job demand, emotional charge and social support.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present study was to develop a research model explaining the causal relationship between certain antecedents (job and emotional charge, supportive management and colleagues), work-family conflict (WFC) and job satisfaction.


BACKGROUND
Many research projects in health organizations have highlighted the link between high WFC and lower levels of job satisfaction. The study of these variables is important in understanding the processes of professional nurse retention.


METHODS
The survey was conducted using a questionnaire administered to 351 professional nurses working in a major North Italian hospital. The questionnaire measures six variables: WFC, job satisfaction, job demand, emotional charge, supportive management and supportive colleagues.


RESULTS
The data confirmed the connection between WFC and job satisfaction, and showed the importance of some WFC predictors, such as supportive management, emotional charge and job demand, not only for their connections with WFC but also for their direct associations with job satisfaction.


CONCLUSIONS
WFC, in health organizations, can contribute to a decrease of nurses' job satisfaction.


CONCLUSIONS
Nursing management could achieve its aim of reducing WFC through the improvement of support from nurse coordinators, the specific organization of work models, ad hoc family-friendly policies and individual counselling programmes for nurses.
Cortese
Claudio G
CG
Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Torino, Via Verdi 10, Turin, Italy. cortese@psych.unito.it
Colombo
Lara
L
Ghislieri
Chiara
C
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003625:Data Collection; D004644:Emotions; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016294:Models, Nursing; D017146:Models, Organizational; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009718:Nurse Administrators; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D009729:Nursing; D012307:Risk Factors; D012938:Social Perception; D012944:Social Support; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult