Factors Influencing Nurses' Turnover Intentions during the COVID-19 Pandemic in  The Bahamas
Creators: Rolle, Shamel Yvonne
Publisher: name: University of Alberta Library
Year: 2023

<p>Background: Nurses in The Bahamas like their colleagues across the globe have had to navigate the varied effects of the protracted COVID-19 pandemic on their work environments. One of the effects was the exacerbation of already low/limited availability of job resources (e.g., staff and medical/surgical supplies) coupled with high job demands (e.g., workload). These conditions may potentiate negative impacts to nurses’ wellbeing and increase turnover leading to loss of essential nursing human capital required to provide quality patient care. Anecdotal evidence suggests that these conditions might push Bahamian nurses to leave their jobs. However, there is a dearth of empirical evidence regarding the influence of job demands, job resources, and well-being on turnover intentions among nurses in The Bahamas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Purpose: To: 1) Examine the influence of job demands, job resources, and well-being on turnover intentions among nurses employed at a public acute care hospital in The Bahamas during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and 2) Identify key predictors of nurses’ turnover intentions. Methods: The Pandemic Nurses’ Turnover Intentions (PNTI) model developed for this study was underpinned by the Job Demands-Resource Theory. The PNTI model is based on two assumptions:1) high job demands (i.e., fear of COVID-19, workload), and low availability of job resources (i.e., managerial support, human resources, collegial support, material resources) are directly associated with turnover intentions, and 2) job demands (i.e., fear of COVID-19, workload), and low availability of job resources (i.e., managerial support, human resources, collegial support, material resources) influence emotional and psychological well-being (i.e., anxiety, stress) which in turn influences turnover intentions. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used. Data were collected January-April 2022 from regulated nurses employed by a public acute care hospital in The Bahamas. IBM SPSS 28.0 was used to conduct stepwise multiple linear regressions to examine the hypothesized relationships among the study variables fear of COVID-19, workload, managerial support, human resources, collegial support, material resources anxiety, stress and turnover intentions. The bootstrapping technique using PROCESS for SPSS 4.1 was employed to test the mediating effects of anxiety and stress on fear of COVID-19, workload managerial support, collegial support, human resources, and material resources and in turn on nurses’ turnover intentions. Results: This study found that managerial support was a key predictor of turnover intentions among nurses. Findings also suggest that anxiety and stress were negatively impacted by fear of COVID-19 and workload. Additionally, managerial support and collegial support were negatively correlated with stress and anxiety, respectively. Stress and anxiety did not mediate the effects of fear of COVID-19, workload, managerial support, collegial support, human resources, and material resources on nurses’ turnover intentions. Conclusion: The results from this study provide empirical evidence regarding the association of specific job demands, job resources and well-being variables on turnover intentions among nurses in The Bahamas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings from this study may assist nursing and other administrators with decision-making related to the development of strategies to retain nurses in acute care settings in The Bahamas.  </p>