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The impact of nursing education and job characteristics on nurse's perceptions of their family nursing practice skills
Author(s) -
Svavarsdottir Erla Kolbrun,
Sigurdardottir Anna Olafia,
Konradsdottir Elisabet,
Tryggvadottir Gudny Bergthora
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of caring sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1471-6712
pISSN - 0283-9318
DOI - 10.1111/scs.12573
Subject(s) - nursing , nurse education , medicine , team nursing , psychology
Background Implementing family system nursing in clinical settings is on the rise. However, little is known about the impact of graduate school education as well as continuing education in family systems nursing (FSN) on nurses’ perceptions of their family nursing practice. Aims To evaluate the level of nursing education, having taken a continuing hospital educational course in family system nursing ( FN ‐ ETI programme), and the impact of job characteristics on nurses’ perceptions of their family nursing practice skills. Design and Methods Participants were 436 nurses with either a BSc degree or graduate degree in nursing. The Job Demand, Control and Support model guided the study (R. Karasek and T. Theorell, 1992, Healthy Work: Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life , Basic Books, New York, NY). Scores for the characteristics of job demands and job control were created to categorise participants into four job types: high strain (high demand, low control), passive (low demand, low control), low strain (low demand, high control) and active (high demand, high control). Results Nurses with a graduate education who had taken the FN ‐ ETI programme scored significantly higher on the Family Nursing Practice Scale than nurses with an undergraduate education. Nurses who were characterised as low strain or active scored significantly higher on the Family Nursing Practice Scale than the nurses who were characterised as high strain . Further, the interaction of education by job type was significant regarding family nursing practice skills. Hierarchical regression revealed 25% of the variance in family nursing practice skills was explained by job control, family policy on the unit, graduate education and employment on the following divisions: Maternal‐Child, Emergency, Mental Health or Internal Medicine. Conclusion Graduate education plus continuing education in FSN can offer nurses increased job opportunities more control over one's work as well as increased skills working with families in clinical settings.