The effect of practice environments and psychological empowerment perceptions of nurses on their care behaviours: A cross-sectional study

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of professional and individual characteristics, practice environments and psychological empowerment perceptions of nurses on their care behaviours. Design: The study used a cross-sectional research design following the STROBE guidelines. Methods: The sample of this descriptive and correlational study consisted of 584 nurses working in a university hospital in Turkey. The data were collected between January and June 2023 using the Nursing Information Form, the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES-NWI), the Psychological Empowerment Scale (PES), and the Caring Behaviours Scale-30, and analysed using descriptive statistics, Spearman's correlation and multiple linear regression. Results: It was determined that PES-NWI, PES and Caring Behaviours Scale (CBI-30) scores of nurses were higher than the average. The study revealed that certain professional and individual characteristics of nurses, practice environments and psychological empowerment perceptions had an effect on their care behaviours. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that nurses' PES-NWI, PES and CBI-30 scores were higher than the average, and that certain professional and individual characteristics of nurses, practice environments and psychological empowerment perceptions had an effect on care behaviours. Nursing service managers, in particular, are required to understand the importance of this relationship and create appropriate working conditions which are integrated with psychological empowerment to improve caring behaviours of nurses.