Individual and organisational factors influencing registered nurses' attitudes towards patient advocacy in Swedish community health care of elders

摘要

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe and explore individual and organisational factors potentially influencing registered nurses' (RNs) attitudes towards patient advocacy. Methods and Sample: In a quantitative cross-sectional study, data were collected from 226 RNs in community health care of elders. A questionnaire was used to measure a number of factors including attitudes towards patient advocacy, nursing competence, personality traits, individual preferences regarding the quality of health care and working climate. A multiple regression analysis was performed. Results: The results showed that individual factors of nursing competence and individual preferences of the quality of health care, as well as organisational factors of the working climate, explained 26.2% of the variance in the RNs' attitudes towards patient advocacy. Conclusions: Although the mentioned individual factors may be intertwined, the conclusion is that both individual and organisational factors influenced RNs' attitudes towards patient advocacy. The results do not verify that nursing experience, workplace experience, educational level or personality traits influence the RNs' attitudes towards patient advocacy. The proportion of explained variance indicates that additional factors also influence attitudes towards patient advocacy, and more research is needed to shed further light on these factors.