More Than One Way Home: An Evaluation of Australian Generation X Nurses' Intent to Remain in Nursing

Abstract

Current workforce data indicate that the nursing shortage in Australia is expected to increase by 2025 since 85,000 to 110,000 nurses are required to meet national health care demands. Approximately 96,000 GenX registered nurses (born during 1965 and 1980) are currently working in various health settings and their retention forms part of a solution to the Australian nursing shortage. Experiencing similar social milestones during formative years, GenX were witnesses to sociopolitical and economic influences, giving them a unique employment profile with specific generational values. The aim of this thesis was to ascertain the factors that contribute to job satisfaction of GenX nurses and the influence of these factors on turnover intention. A multiphase mixed methods study was conducted, designed to collect data concurrently, with a sequential triangulation design performed at the end of the study. Australian GenX nurses cited positive perceptions of job satisfaction and the work environment, naming professional relationships with co-workers, managers and patients as factors of maximum satisfaction; however, they found work conditions challenging. Issues related to trust at the workplace and work– life balance were associated with turnover intention. The core value of caring remained the most meaningful influence within and outside work for GenX nurses, who acknowledged that their early experiences of caring launched them into the profession. GenX nurses reported an overwhelming intention to continue nursing and a most interesting and unexpected finding was their ability to situate nursing as similar to a ‘family at work’. To GenX nurses, nursing was another home, with a second family where values such as harmony and a sense of belonging were highly sought.