Nursing stress factors affecting turnover intention among hospital nurses

Aims This study aimed to identify the nursing stress factors, which affect turnover intention in hospital nurses. Background Nursing stress is known to be an important predictor of turnover intention in nurses. Although nurses experience various sources of stress across work environments, cultures, and generations, little is known about the stress factors affecting turnover intention in nurses. Design A descriptive cross‐sectional design was employed. Methods A total of 329 nurses were recruited through convenience sampling from 27 hospitals in South Korea. Data were collected from May to November 2018 using a questionnaire. Results Among the stress factors, stress from patients and their families, workload stress, stress from conflicts with supervisors, and stress from conflicts with peers were associated with turnover intention in hospital nurses. These variables explained 40.0% of the variance in turnover intention among hospital nurses. Conclusions Stress from interpersonal relationships with patients and their families, supervisors, and peers may have a considerable impact on turnover intention. To reduce nursing turnover intention, coping strategies to reduce stress from patients and their families should be established. It is necessary to provide programmes that foster interpersonal relationship skills in the workplace. Nurse managers may encourage communication among nurses to establish positive relationships. SUMMARY STATEMENT What is already known about the topic? Nurses' turnover continues to remain a challenging issue across work environments, cultures, and generations. Nursing stress has a great impact on turnover intention in hospital nurses. However, little is known about the stress factors that affect turnover intention in nurses. What this paper adds? Among the nursing stress factors, stress from patients and families had a strong effect on turnover intention in hospital nurses, followed by stress from workload, conflicts with supervisors, and conflicts with peers. The implications of this paper: Our findings suggest that stress from interpersonal relationships might have a considerable impact on turnover intention. Coping strategies to reduce stress from patients and family need to be first established to reduce the turnover intention in hospital nurses. Nurse managers should be aware of the effects of interpersonal relationships on turnover intention and encourage communication among nurses to establish positive relationships.