• Shanshan Wang and Yanhui Liu.
• Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
• J Nurs Manag. 2015 Apr 1; 23 (3): 287-96.

AimThis study aimed to investigate the influence of professional nursing practice environment and psychological empowerment on nurses' work engagement.BackgroundPrevious researchers have acknowledged the positive influence that nurse work environment and psychological empowerment have on engagement. However, less is known about the mechanisms that explain the links between them.MethodA predictive, non-experimental design was used to test the model in a random sample of 300 clinical nurses from two tertiary first class hospitals of Tianjin, China. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index and the Psychological Empowerment Scale were used to measure the study variables.ResultStructural equation modelling revealed a good fit of the model to the data based on various fit indices (P = 0.371, χ(2) /df = 1.056, goodness of fit index = 0.967), which indicated that both professional practice environment and psychological empowerment could positively influence work engagement directly, and professional practice environment could also indirectly influence work engagement through the mediation of psychological empowerment.ConclusionThe study hypotheses were supported. Psychological empowerment was found to mediate the relationship between practice environments and work engagement.Implications For Nursing ManagementAdministrators should provide a professional nursing practice environment and empower nurses psychologically to increase nurse engagement.© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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