Background/Objectives: In recent years, research has increasingly highlighted the significance of nursing practice environments, linking positive settings with enhanced job satisfaction, professional autonomy, and care quality. Such environments can decrease turnover, stress, and costs while improving patient safety. Despite this extensive literature, there is limited consensus on defining a ‘positive nursing practice environment’, highlighting the need for a systematic analysis to advance understanding and application. This study aims to explore and clarify the concept of a ‘Positive Nursing Practice Environment’. Methods: This study applied Walker and Avant’s approach for concept analysis, conducting a comprehensive database search to gather relevant evidence. To review the available evidence on the concept of nursing practice environments, we followed the methodology proposed by JBI for scoping reviews. Results: The inclusion of 166 studies meeting the criteria provided a broad understanding of the topic, revealing 10 key attributes of a ‘positive nursing practice environment’ and identifying various antecedents and consequences affecting clients, nurses, and institutions. Conclusions: The concept analysis of a ‘Positive Nursing Practice Environment’ offers valuable insights into nurses’ working conditions, systematically identifying characteristics that impact professionals, patients, and institutions. This analysis lays the groundwork for future research and practical improvements in nursing practice environments. This study was not registered.
5 December 2019 in Revista Portuguesa de Enfermagem de Reabilitação
Introduction: Nurses’ professionalism is linked to the profession’s principles and plays a crucial role in the quality and safety of care in the current context of complexity in healthcare systems. In the Portuguese context, no instrument allows evaluation of the nurses’ professionalism, which led to the objective of cross-culturally adapting and validating the content of the Nurses’ Professionalism Inventory for the Portuguese context.Methods: A methodological study was carried out and comprised six stages: translation, synthesis, back-translation, committee of experts, pre-test, and approval of the process by the original author developer of the instrument.Results: The first three stages were completed without difficulty. Nine experts were part of the committee to validate the instrument content. They evaluated items’ semantic, idiomatic, cultural, and conceptual equivalences, clarity, and relevance. Modified Kappa and Content Validity Index were calculated for all assessments. Seven items were submitted in two rounds to achieve consensus in the assessments. The usability of the instrument was tested in the fifth stage. Forty nurses performed the pre-test and agreed that the instructions, items, and response options of the Portuguese version of the Nurses’ Professionalism Inventory were easy to understand at 95.00, 97.50, and 92.50%, respectively. The author who developed the original instrument analyzed and approved the entire process carried out.Discussion: The cross-cultural adaptation of the Nurses’ Professionalism Inventory to the Portuguese context was carried out according to international recommendations, and the conclusion of this study will provide an instrument to assess the nurses’ professionalism in Portugal.
Contemporary transformations in the world of work, together with the growing emotional and physical demands in nursing, have led to the emergence of new labor phenomena such as quiet quitting, which reflects changes in professional engagement and in the management of nurses’ well-being. Objective: To translate, culturally adapt, and validate the Quiet Quitting Scale for European Portuguese, evaluating its psychometric properties among the nursing population. Methods: A cross-sectional validation study was conducted following COSMIN guidelines. The process included forward and back translation, expert panel review, and pretesting with 30 nurses. The psychometric evaluation was carried out with 347 nurses from Northern Portugal. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, internal consistency measures (Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood estimation to assess construct validity. Results: The Portuguese version (QQS-PT) maintained the original three-factor structure (Detachment/Disinterest, Lack of Initiative, and Lack of Motivation). The model showed satisfactory fit indices (CFI = 0.936; GFI = 0.901; AGFI = 0.814; TLI = 0.905; RMSEA = 0.133). The overall internal consistency was excellent (α = 0.918; ω = 0.922), with subscale α ranging from 0.788 to 0.924. Composite reliability (CR) ranged from 0.815 to 0.924, and average variance extracted (AVE) from 0.606 to 0.859, confirming convergent and discriminant validity. Conclusions: The QQS-PT demonstrated a stable factorial structure, strong reliability, and solid validity evidence. It is a brief and psychometrically sound instrument for assessing quiet quitting among nurses, providing valuable insights for research and management of professional engagement and well-being in healthcare contexts.
Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between quiet quitting and burnout among nurses, considering the influence of sociodemographic and occupational factors in healthcare settings. Methods: This cross-sectional, observational, and quantitative study was conducted from April to July 2025 in health services in northern Portugal, involving 1097 nurses who completed a questionnaire, the Silent Employment Abandonment Scale, and the Shirom–Melamed Burnout Scale. Descriptive and inferential analyses examined associations between sociodemographic variables, work context, and outcomes. Results: The 1097 participating nurses showed a positive correlation between overall quiet quitting and total burnout across all domains. Burnout remained significantly associated with overall quiet quitting after adjustment, and physical and cognitive fatigue showed the most consistent independent associations across models. The strongest coefficients were observed for the ‘lack of motivation’ dimension. Conclusions: Quiet quitting was consistently associated with burnout among nurses after adjustment for sociodemographic and occupational factors. The pattern of results was stronger for physical and cognitive fatigue and for lack of motivation, supporting the interpretation of quiet quitting as an important correlation of occupational strain in nursing and reinforcing the need for organizational and leadership strategies that reduce fatigue and sustain professional engagement.
Background/Objectives: Structural empowerment involves access to opportunities, information, support, and resources within the work environment. These elements are crucial as they foster nurses’ professional growth and autonomy. Given their significance, understanding hospital nurses’ perceptions of structural empowerment is important. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore hospital nurses’ perceptions of their levels of structural empowerment. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 684 nurses from a Portuguese hospital, conducted between November 2024 and January 2025. The questionnaire collected demographic data and employed the Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire II. Results: The mean total score for structural empowerment was 18.74 (SD = 3.46), with significant differences found between nurses and specialist nurses, for those with the specialist title (p = 0.0477) and within the professional category (p = 0.0058), as well as between nurses working day shifts and those working day and night shifts (p < 0.0001). Additional significant differences were observed between nurses from the Medicine department (median [Q1–Q3]: 19.25 [17.00–21.50]) and those from the Surgery department (18.17 [16.00–20.25], p = 0.0104), as well as between Generation Z nurses (19.58 [17.33–21.83]) and Generation Y nurses (18.29 [16.25–20.33], p = 0.0018). Conclusions: These results underscore the importance of consistently promoting structural empowerment across the nursing staff, addressing disparities between groups, and improving both professional development and quality of patient care.