The Work Engagement of Nurses and Its Correlation with Perceived Social Support

Improvement of work engagement in the nursing workplace required the identification of the influential factors for their enhancement and modification if necessary. Perceived social support is one of these factors. The present study aimed to determine the correlation between the work engagement of nurses and perceived social support.

This cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational study was conducted at the teaching hospitals in Birjand, Iran in 2018. In total, 120 nurses were selected via multistage sampling. Data were collected using Utrecht work engagement questionnaire and Zimet social support. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 16 using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation-coefficient, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and independent t-test.

Positive correlations were observed between vigor, attraction (r=0.20; P=0.02), and total score of work engagement with the family aspect of social support (r=0.20; P=0.02), while the correlations were not considered statistically significant. In addition, a significant association was observed between dedication (P=0.02) and gender, and the female nurses achieved higher scores. Significant correlations were also denoted between vigor (P=0.03), dedication (P=0.02), and the total score of work engagement (P=0.02) with the workplace in the hospital.

According to the results, perceived social support from the family and work engagement of the nurses were weakly associated. In addition, the female nurses had higher score in the dedication dimension of work engagement compared to the male nurses. Our findings could be provided to nursing managers and supervisors in order to raise their awareness regarding the work engagement of nurses and its influential factors, so that they could promote motivational work environments to enhance the work engagement of nurses.