The recognition behaviors strongly influence the job satisfaction of staff nurses and an extremely important factor for the prevention of burnout and the promotion of retention. Additionally, among internal factors that may affect worker's mental health, a sense of coherence (SOC) is an important concept from the view of the salutogenic theory and stress recognition style. Individual's SOC increases in relation to recognition behavior. However, in Japan, few studies have examined the effect of recognition behaviors on the SOC of staff nurses. The purpose of this study was to investigate how staff nurses perceive recognition behaviors of the nurse manager and to determine the relationship between recognition behaviors and the staff nurses' SOC. This quantitative, cross-sectional study involved 10 hospitals in Japan. A total of 1425 nurses completed the questionnaire. As a result, the perceptions of nurse manager's recognition behaviors by staff nurses were evaluated by presentation and report, individual value and the transfer of responsibility, and professional development. The median score of staff nurse SOC-13 was 50 (IQR; 45-55). Significant differences in SOC scores were found in marital status, age, years of experience, and mental and physical health condition. In conclusion, recognition behaviors by the nurse manager can improve staff nurse's SOC and effectively support the mental health of the staff nurse.

BackgroundAs the Japanese population ages, the number of cancer patients will likely increase. Therefore, qualified cancer health care providers should be recruited and retained. Nurse job satisfaction is influenced by numerous factors and may affect staff turnover and patient outcomes. ObjectivesTo evaluate the job satisfaction of certified nurses and nurse specialists in Japanese cancer care and elucidate factors associated with job satisfaction. MethodsParticipants in this cross-sectional study comprised 200 certified nurse specialists and 1,472 certified nurses working in Japanese cancer care. A chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were conducted to identify job satisfaction factors. ResultsJob satisfaction was present in 38.45% and 49.00% of certified nurses and nurse specialists, respectively. Certified nurses associated job satisfaction with cross-departmental activities (OR 2.24, p<0.001), positive evaluation from senior stuff (OR 4.58, p<0.001), appropriate staff allocation (OR 1.75, p<0.001), more than five years certified nurse experience (OR 1.91, p<0.001), and positive evaluation of the development of certified nurses (OR 2.13, p<0.01) and nurse specialists (OR 1.37, p<0.05). Low job satisfaction was associated with working on a ward (OR 0.51, p<0.001) and a capacity of more than 200 beds (OR 0.33, p = 0.00). Certified nurse specialists associated job satisfaction with palliative care

Introduction: In hospitals, the nurse uses the bed alarm system for patients' safety, which may have some forms of physical restraints included, depending on the situation. However, the nurses' perceptions of the bed alarm system with reference to restraints are yet to be clarified. Moreover, there were no reports that can shed light upon the factors that relate to nurses' perceptions about the bed alarm system in Japan. The objective of this study is to investigate the nurses' perception on whether the bed alarm can be considered as a form of physical restraint and to elucidate the factors that pertain to the nurses' perceptions regarding the bed alarm. Methods: This study conducted a quantitative cross-sectional survey. We used bivariate logistic regression analyses to investigate the nurses' perception and the factors affecting these perception. Ethical approval was obtained from the research ethics committee of the Kyoto University. Participants opted for answering the questionnaire voluntarily. Results: The sample population comprised of 289 nurses from 10 acute-care hospitals. Out of these, 214 (74.0%) nurses considered the bed alarm system as a form of restraint, and 75 nurses (26.0%) did not. Furthermore, the nurses' perception was relevant to the hospitals that they belonged to, their years of experience, and the content of education. It was especially interesting that the group of nurses with little experience had the consciousness of being considered the bed alarm as restraint compared with nurses with many years of experience. Conclusion: The alarm systems are gradually being considered to be classified as a restraint. Hospitals should ensure providing an ethically sensitive climate and appropriate educational opportunities to help nurses build these perceptions for patient care. An ethically sensitive climate and appropriate educational opportunities would lead to an environment that nurtures nurses with the ability to recognize problems in daily care.

This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a text messaging intervention that offered pregnancy and childbirth support. Participants included 39 primigravid women who were less than 12 weeks pregnant. Text messages were sent twice weekly to the intervention group from week 13 of pregnancy until childbirth. Outcome measures were anxiety levels, lifestyle in the month before birth, pre-birth weight, pregnancy complications, delivery complications, birth weight, thoughts regarding the text messages, and the frequency of viewing of the text messages. For the item "I engage in body stretching," the average value in the intervention group was significantly higher than that in the control group. For the item "I have regular bowel movements," the average value in the intervention group was significantly lower. Most participants reported that the intervention was at least somewhat useful. This study indicates that text messaging intervention is practical and can be used to support numerous pregnant women simultaneously at a relatively low cost. Since this is a study pilot trial, large-scale studies are necessary to improve the method and allow for the generalization of the results.

Background In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the importance of creating a healthy ethical climate. Although relationship with various factors and the ethical climate have been reported, understanding of the relationship between ethical education and ethical climate is limited. Aim This study aims to investigate the relationship between ethical climate, personal characteristics, and continuing education for ethics. Methods This study conducted a quantitative cross-sectional survey of 605 nurses in 3 teaching hospitals in Japan. Multiple-regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between ethical climate and demographic characteristics and continuing education. Further mean of ethical climate scores were compared between received continuing education and did not, using analysis of covariance adjusted for demographic variables. Findings The ethical climate showed significant association with hospital, gender, specialty of the unit, experience of ethics education, in-service ethical training, and workshops/ academic conferences on nursing ethics. In multiple-regression analysis, attending in-service ethical training increased the mean of ethical climate score (p = 0.031) and workshops/ academic conferences decreased the mean score (p = 0.028). Adjusted-mean of ethical climate score of nurses who had in-service training was significantly higher than those who had not (p = 0.038), whereas adjusted-mean of it of nurses who had attended workshops/ academic conferences was significant lower (p = 0.033). Discussion In-service training on ethics was associated with the positive ethical climate. Hospital should enhance ethical education. Conclusion Ethical climate related to the nurses’ personal characteristics and continuing education. We propose that organizational support for ethical education may be effective in raising the ethical climate of the workplace.