Modeling the Relationship of psychological empowerment, Spirituality at work and psychological Safety in nurses

There are many sources of stress in health care jobs and nurses are therefore under a lot of psychological pressures. Identifying affecting variables impacting on psychological safety of the nurses can be a step towards improving their psychological safety and reducing psychological stresses on them.

The aim of this research is to study the relationship between psychological empowerment, work spirituality and psychological safety among nurses in public hospitals of Sanandaj, a city in northwest of Iran.

This study was descriptive - correlation. Samples were nurses in working in Sanandaj public hospitals (n= 410) that 148 subjects were selected randomly. Data gathering tools were three questionnaires: Psychological Empowerment Questionnaire (Wooten & Cameron, 1998), Spirituality at Work Questionnaire (Mylyman, 2003) and Burnout Questionnaire (Edmohnson, 1993). Data analysis was performed by One-sample t-test, Pearson correlation test and Structural Equation Modeling.

Data analysis showed the psychological empowerment of the nurses was at a suitable level, spirituality at work was average and their psychological safety was low. The results also showed there was a significant positive relationship between psychological empowerment, spirituality in work and psychological safety. Eventually it was proves that psychological empowerment directly and mediated by spirituality at work influences on the psychological safety of the nurses.

Health care administrators and nurse managers would be prepare grounds for improving the psychological safety of the nurses by implementing empowering programs of the employees at workplaces, and providing a moral and spiritual workplace.