Work values and their association with burnout/work engagement among nurses in long‐term care hospitals

Aims To examine burnout and work engagement among nurses in Japanese long‐term care hospitals and their relation to nurses’ and organisational work values, and nurse‐organisation congruence of such values. Background Nursing managers must help improve nurses’ well‐being; however, no research has considered strategies to improve staff outcomes in long‐term care hospitals. We propose that individual nurse's work values and the congruence of these values with those of their organisations may influence burnout and work engagement. Methods We conducted a cross‐sectional survey of nurses in long‐term care hospitals. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the effects of nurses’ work values and nurse‐organisation congruence in these values on burnout and work engagement. Results Higher individual intrinsic and altruistic work values were associated with improvements in nurses’ burnout and work engagement. Nurse‐organisation non‐congruence in altruistic values was associated with lower work engagement, whereas that of intrinsic work values was not associated with either outcome variable. Conclusion Promoting intrinsic and altruistic work values among nurses could be effective for improving both burnout and work engagement. Implications for Nursing Management Opportunities such as case conferences could foster intrinsic and altruistic work values through the review of good care practices and communication between managers/colleagues about feelings and thoughts.