THE ESSENCE OF STAFF NURSE JOB SATISFACTION - CONNECTEDNESS: A GROUNDED THEORY.
Contributors: University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Published: 1992
Number of pages: 229
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Health Care Management.
Description: The purpose of this investigation was to develop a theory regarding job satisfaction of professional staff nurses using a grounded theory approach. Consistent with grounded theory methodology, discoveries about levels of clinical proficiency and job satisfiers emerged.

A theoretical sample of seventeen participants included fifteen nurses employed in diverse clinical settings and two patients. Data were generated from interviews and field notes recorded in inpatient and homecare settings. Data were analyzed using a constant comparative approach incorporating matrix analysis.

A substantive grounded theory resulted: for staff nurses, job satisfaction is a positive sense perceived about the job that results when a special connection exists between the nurse and the work. Connectedness, the core variable, is a sense of belonging and fit that closely links the nurse to her/his work based upon a congruence between the nurse's needs and expectations about the work and the extent to which the nurse perceives those needs as being met. Two sources of connectedness are identified: personal and professional integration, both considered vital to job satisfaction in nursing.

Seven essential categories were identified. Three universal contributors were applicable to all nurse clinicians: meeting "professional challenges," experiencing "opportunities for growth and development," and sensing "achievement recognition.".

Four unique categories emerged congruent with levels of practice. Novice nurses need "nurtured practice" and "supervision." Expert nurses focus on professional "autonomy" and "leadership." Competent (mid-level) nurses identified needs consistent with experience. The core variable "connectedness" integrates these developmental processes and nursing job satisfaction.

Development of grounded theory stimulated identification of a metaphor, the ocean wave. As a wave passes through several stages to reach full maturity, likewise a nurse develops professionally. Job satisfaction requires one to "catch the wave" of individual development and connect with the needs/satisfiers associated with one's professional development. Achieving and maintaining "connectedness" and job satisfaction requires a work environment congruent with the identified categories. Implications for achieving job satisfaction include reduced vacancy rates, decreased job turnover, reduced recruitment and training expenses, and increased continuity of patient care and patient satisfaction.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-08, Section: B, page: 4027.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER, 1992.

School code: 0831.