Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Semester of Degree Completion
1981
Thesis Director
William G. Kirk
Abstract
The rapid rate of specialization within the health care field has affected the practice of nursing by demanding increased autonomy and professional identification among nurses. Past research has demonstrated that nurses' attitudes relevant to autonomous functioning and professional identification differ with the occupational role and setting in which the nurse works, with community hospital staff nurses being less likely than other nurses to endorse professionalism or autonomous functioning. The research has also demonstrated that the job turnover rate among hospital staff nurses is extremely high and that a large proportion of this turnover rate is directly related to job dissatisfaction. On the basis of the literature on job satisfaction and professional autonomy, it was hypothesized that job dissatisfaction among hospital staff nurses is related to a failure to endorse and accept autonomous functioning and professional identification.
Fifty-three staff registered nurses, employed by five community hospitals in the East Central Illinois area, voluntarily and anonymously completed questionnaries which included the Pankratz Nursing Attitude Scale and the Brayfield-Rothe Index of Job Satisfaction. The nurses sampled were all full time employees and ranged in age from twenty one to sixty years, with a mean age of approximately thirty one. More than half of the nurses had over five years of nursing experience. The Baccalaureate was the highest educational degree obtained by the participants, and the Nursing Diploma was held by the majority. The various specialty areas and work shifts were represented equally.
The findings did not support the hypothesis which proposed that professional autonomy is positively related to job satisfaction among hospital staff nurses. The findings also did not support the secondary hypothesis which proposed that professional autonomy is inversely related to job satisfaction.
These results may be due to there being no relationship between professional autonomy and job satisfaction among community hospital staff nurses. Limitations and implications of the study were discussed.
Recommended Citation
Quinn, Michael Thomas, "Job Satisfaction and Attitudes of Professional Autonomy Among Community Hospital Staff Nurses" (1981). Masters Theses. 3025.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/3025
