Quality of Work Life, Nurses’ Intention to Leave the Profession, and Nurses Leaving the Profession: A One‐Year Prospective Survey

Purpose To examine the associations among quality of work life, nurses’ intention to leave the profession, and nurses leaving the profession. Design A prospective study design was used. Methods Participants were 1,283 hospital nurses with a purposive sampling in Taiwan. The self‐reported questionnaire consisted of three questionnaires: the Chinese version of the Quality of Nursing Work Life scale, an intention‐to‐leave profession questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire. Records of nurses leaving the profession were surveyed 1 year later. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Findings As many as 720 nurses (56.1%) had tendencies to leave their profession. However, only 31 nurses (2.5%) left their profession 1 year later. Nurses’ intention to leave the profession mediated the relationship between the milieu of respect and autonomy, quality of work life, and nurses leaving the profession. Conclusions The milieu of respect and autonomy describing the quality of work life predicts the nurses’ intention to leave the profession, and together these predict nurses leaving the profession. Clinical Relevance This study illustrates that nurse managers could provide effective interventions to ameliorate the milieu of respect and autonomy aspect of quality of work life to prevent nurses from leaving their profession.