Abstract

PURPOSE
This correlation study was designed to examine the relationships among reported violence experience, hardiness, and job satisfaction of nurses in an emergency department and to identify the factors that predict their job satisfaction.
METHODS
The study was conducted using a convenience sample of one hundred and fifteen nurses from nine hospitals. Data were collected using structured questionnaires including Assault Response Questionnaire (Jung, 2008), Dispositional Resilience Scale-15 (Bartone, 1995) and job satisfaction Questionnaire (Yun, 2004). Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, and multiple regression.
RESULTS
Hardiness and job satisfaction were statistically significant positive correlation (r=.44, p<.001). Further, there was a negative correlation between response to violence experiences and job satisfaction (r=-.33, p<.001) and between hardiness and response to violence experiences (r=-.41, p<.001). Emotional response and physiological responses of violence experience and hardiness were significant predictors of job satisfaction, and explained 29.6% of the total variance.
CONCLUSION
Previous experiences with violence were an important factor which contribute to lower job satisfaction as reported by emergency department nurses. However it was also noted that hardiness was an important factor that could be used to improve job satisfaction of emergency department nurses.