Job Retention Among Home Healthcare Nurses

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DESCRIPTION (Provided by Applicant): Predicted severe nursing shortages and an increasing demand for home health services has made the retention of experienced, qualified nursing staff a priority for home healthcare agencies. Although many studies have examined nurse shortage, job satisfaction, and retention among nurses in hospital settings little is know about the variables that affect nurse retention in home healthcare. The purpose of this study is to identify the variables that affect job retention among home healthcare nurses. The specific aims for this study are to: 1. examine the relationship of job satisfaction to intent to stay and job retention 2. examine the relationship of individual nurse characteristics to intent to stay and job satisfaction 3. test a theoretical model of the direct and indirect effects of job satisfaction, individual nurse characteristics, and intent to stay on job retention for home healthcare nurses. Data will be collected from a representative regional sample of home healthcare nurses by self-report on a mailed survey questionnaire. The analysis will examine the relationship between overall job satisfaction, individual characteristics and intent to stay and retention. The theoretical model being tested by the proposed study is an integration of the findings of empirical research related to job satisfaction and retention, models of nurse retention proposed by Alexander and Tauton and components of Neal's theory of home healthcare nursing practice. The theoretical model proposes that the intrinsic characteristics of job satisfaction (autonomy, professional growth, group cohesion and characteristics of organization), the extrinsic characteristics; of job satisfaction (stress, job flexibility, salary and benefits and perception of opportunities elsewhere) and the individual characteristics (age, tenure in home healthcare nursing practice) are directly and indirectly related to intention to stay in home healthcare nursing practice and that intention to stay is directly related to retention. Knowledge of variables that contribute to job retention in home care will provide the information necessary to maintain nursing staff and assure access to quality home healthcare services.