Nurses’ assessed self-efficacy levels to medical asepsis and their relation to structural empowerment, work engagement and work-related stress

BACKGROUND: Nurses’ working conditions are important for their well-being at work and for their ability to provide patients with safe care. Self-efficacy can influence employees’ behaviour at work. Therefore, it is valuable to study self-efficacy levels to medical asepsis in relation to working conditions. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between nurses’ assessed self-efficacy levels to medical asepsis in care situations and structural empowerment, work engagement and work-related stress. METHODS: A cross-sectional study with a correlational design was conducted. A total of 417 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses at surgical and orthopaedic units responded to a questionnaire containing: the Infection Prevention Appraisal Scale, the Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire-II, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9 and the Health & Safety Executive Management Standards Indicator Tool. Correlational analyses and group comparisons were performed. RESULTS: The nurses rated high levels of self-efficacy to medical asepsis in care situations. The correlational analyses revealed that correlation coefficients between structural empowerment, work engagement, work-related stress and self-efficacy to medical asepsis were 0.254–0.268. Significant differences in self-efficacy were found in the grouped working conditions. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that nurses rated high self-efficacy levels to medical asepsis and, to some extent, this seemed related to structural empowerment, work engagement and work-related stress. This valuable knowledge could enable improvements at the managerial and organisational levels, benefiting both nurses and patients in the long run.