Nursing assistants' desired roles, perceptions of nurses' expectations and effect on team participation: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract Aims To examine the gap between nursing assistants' desired roles and their perceptions of nurses' expectations, and the relationship between these perceptions and nursing assistants' nursing team participation. Background Nursing assistants' role perceptions may be related to their participation in nursing teams. Methods We performed a secondary analysis of questionnaire data from 1,316 nursing assistants in Japan. Results Participants rated their desired roles higher than their perceptions of nurses' expectations of them. Where perceptions of nurses' expectations were higher, higher desired role scores were associated with greater nursing team participation. Where perceptions of nurses' expectations were lower, the desired role score was not associated with team participation. Conclusions Nursing assistants perceive their roles as higher and inclusive of more duties than what nurses have expected of them. When perceptions of nurse expectations were high, they performed at a higher level. When perceptions of nurse expectations were low, they performed at a lower level, despite their desire to do more. Implications for Nursing Management It may be useful for nurses and nursing assistants to jointly reflect on and promote awareness of nursing assistants' functional roles in the ward. This would promote nursing assistant team participation and optimize their scope of practice.