Mental health of healthcare professionals: headaches and professional commitment interact to impact nurse turnover intention

Abstract

Purpose

Nurses' health is vital for retaining nurses in the profession. However, lack of study has examined how headaches and professional commitment interact to impact professional turnover intention. This study aims to examine the moderating effect of nurses' headaches on the relationship among professional commitment factors (affective professional commitment, continuance professional commitment and normative professional commitment) and nurses' professional turnover intention.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employed a two-wave design and questionnaires to survey 524 nurses from a large medical center in Taiwan during February and March 2017 (the first wave) and June and August 2017 (the second wave). Headaches were measured using descriptions formulated by the International Headache Society. Items measuring other constructs came from relevant literature. Regression analysis was used to assess relationships between the constructs.

Findings

All aspects of professional commitment are negatively related to professional turnover intention (B [CI] = −0.47 [−0.58, −0.36], −0.20 [−0.29, −0.11], −0.22 [−0.32, −0.12], p < 0.001). Headaches reduce the negative relation between affective professional commitment and professional turnover intention (B [CI] = 0.14 [0.02,0.27], p = 0.02).

Practical implications

Headaches could interfere with nurses' commitment to the nursing profession and influence nurses' intention to leave. Managers should seek means to help alleviate nurses' headaches.

Originality/value

This study is the first to examine how headaches and professional commitment interact to influence nurses' professional turnover intention.

Citation

Pham, T.T.L., Chang, H.-Y., Wong, A.M.-K., Van, V.H. and Teng, C.-I. (2022), "Mental health of healthcare professionals: headaches and professional commitment interact to impact nurse turnover intention", International Journal of Workplace Health Management, Vol. 15 No. 5, pp. 623-638. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-02-2022-0020