Does clinical supervision promote medical-surgical nurses' well-being at work? A quasi-experimental 4-year follow-up study

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the present paper is to report results of a quasi-experimental study exploring the effects of clinical supervision (CS) on the development of medical-surgical nurses' well-being at work over a 4-year period.

Background: Effective workplace interventions are needed to prevent stress and burnout. More robust scientific evidence is needed to confirm the restorative effects of CS in nursing.

Methods: A questionnaire survey on the perceptions of work and health was conducted in 2003 and 2007 on 14 units of a Finnish university hospital where 19 CS group processes had been completed between 2004 and 2007.

Results: Improvement in job resources as well as reduction in professional inefficacy and psychological distress were found among nurses who received effective CS (n = 41), but were not present among the nurses who found their CS less effective (n = 43) or who did not attend CS (n = 82).

Conclusions: The results provide robust evidence for the positive effects of CS on medical-surgical nurses' well-being at work.

Implications for nursing management: Stress is a developmental challenge in the professional growth of individual nurses. One option for management to sustain nurses' well-being at work is to develop a learning organization in the workplace making use of CS.