Age-dependent relationships between work ability, thinking of quitting the job, and actual leaving among Italian nurses: a longitudinal study

Camerino, Donatella and Conway, Paul Maurice and Heijden van der, Beatrice Isabella Johanna Maria and Estryn-Béhar, Madeleine and Costa, Giovanni and Hasselhorn, Hans-Martin (2008) Age-dependent relationships between work ability, thinking of quitting the job, and actual leaving among Italian nurses: a longitudinal study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 45 (11). pp. 1645-1659. ISSN 0020-7489

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Abstract:	Background: Qualified nurses commonly report several work-related problems, which may threat their health and work ability, and may have an impact upon retention. - Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether perceived work ability is a predictor for different types of thinking of quitting and for actual exit from the workplace. - Design: A prospective study has been performed based on 3329 Italian registered nurses which responded to both measurements of the Nurses’ Early Exit Study. Institutions were selected by means of a stratified sampling procedure. All the 7447 nurses working in that healthcare organizations were recruited for the study. Baseline questionnaire was collected from 5504 nurses. Response rate at follow-up was 63.4%. Two hundred and fifty-five nurses left the job in the course of the investigation. - Methods: Several multiple logistic regression analyses were performed controlling for indicators of work-related well-being, socio-demographic, and labour-market characteristics. - Results: As a whole, our results show that among nurses younger than 45 years work ability is a significant predictor of different types of thinking of quitting, but not of actual exit from the workplace: a lower perceived work ability was associated with a higher desire to undertake further education (OR: 3.05; 95% CI: 1.30–7.18) and/or to change workplace (OR: 4.03; 95% CI: 1.84–8.83) or profession (OR: 6.67; 95% CI: 2.78–15.99). In contrast, among the older nurses (>45), only actual exit was predicted by lower work ability scores (OR: 7.14; 95% CI: 1.15–44.13), along with the perception of a larger availability of free nursing posts in the region (OR: 2.70; 95% CI: 1.13–6.43). - Conclusion: Therefore, we conclude that in the relationship between low perceived work ability and intended or actual exit, a significant part is explained by age itself, but also by the age-related differences in occupational and life opportunities. This contribution concludes with some age-related policies aimed at boosting nurses’ retention.
Item Type:	Article
Copyright:	© 2008 Elsevier Science
Research Group:	Operations, Organization and Human Resources (OOHR)
Link to this item:	http://purl.utwente.nl/publications/61665
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2008.03.002
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