Aims: We tested a modification of Leiter and Laschinger's Nursing Worklife Model by examining the impact of structural empowerment on professional work environment factors that lead to nursing job satisfaction.
Background: The original model explains how five magnet hospital practice domains described by Lake (2002) interact to influence nurses' work lives by either contributing to or mitigating burnout.
Methods: A non-experimental design was used. Five hundred randomly selected nurses in Michigan were surveyed (response rate 66%, n = 332). Instruments included the Conditions for Work Effectiveness Questionnaire-II, the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index, and the Index of Work Satisfaction. Path analysis was used to test the model.
Results: The final model fit the data well (chi2 = 96.4, d.f. = 10, NFI: 0.90, CFI: 0.43, RMSEA: 0.18), supporting both hypotheses.
Conclusions: The expanded Nursing Worklife Model demonstrates the role of empowerment in creating positive practice conditions that contribute to job satisfaction.