Nurse Job Satisfaction Research: A Literature Review, 2006–2011

Objective: This literature review aims to evaluate the state of nurse job satisfaction research by identifying the instruments and scientific rigor used to measure the latent construct of nurse job satisfaction around the globe, during the years 2006–2011. Design: A systematic review of research articles in measurement of nurse job satisfaction. Data Sources: Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Social Sciences Citation Index, Ingenta Connect, and Web of Science. Review Methods: The years 2006–2011 were selected as a time frame that would provide a large number of studies from around the world and consider past measurement in nurse job satisfaction. Articles were included that identified a measure for nurse job satisfaction and sampled nurses who provided direct patient care. Language was limited to English. Fink criteria were used to create an extraction tool to score 21 scientific criteria in the measurement of nurse job satisfaction. Results: The literature review generated 1,681 articles, from which 995 articles were selected for further review; of these, 104 unique articles addressed measurement of nurse job satisfaction using 56 unique instruments. A total of 149,905 nurses from 35 countries responded to inquiries about job satisfaction. The extraction tool revealed scores from 8.00 to 18.00 (out of 21 total possible points) with a mean score of 12.06 (s.d. 2.12). Criteria that fell below 50% across studies included inclusion criteria (6% of studies), non-responders explained (7%), missing data explained (11%), power analysis (16%), random sampling (29%), inclusion criteria (32%), analysis of instrument factor structure (34%) definition of nurse job satisfaction (48%) and use of theory or conceptual framework (49%). Nurse Job Satisfaction 2 Conclusions: This literature review revealed both successes and critical gaps in the research of measuring nurse job satisfaction. Identification of gaps in the scientific process of measurement of nurse job satisfaction may assist with refinement of instruments used to measure nurse job satisfaction that in turn will facilitate model specification around the globe.