The Relationship between Work Environments and Intention to Leave in Nursing: A Cross-sectional and Correlational Study

Objective: Unfavorable work environments are among the factors that affect nurses' intention to leave. This study was explored to examine the relationship between nurses' work environments and their intention to leave.Methods: This cross-sectional and correlational design study was carried out with 547 nurses working in a university, a private hospital, and a teaching hospital between November 2016 and February 2017. The Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index and a question about intention to leave was used. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression analysis were used in the analysis of the data.Results: The mean total score of scale was found to be M= 2.30 +/- 0.56 and nurses' perceptions of work environments to be unfavorable. It was found that; 13.9% of the nurses did not intend to leave, 35.5% had a low, and 50.8% had a high intention to leave. It was determined that unfavorable work environments increases intention to leave (R= .370, R2= .137, p<0.001).Conclusion: This study found that it was nurses' intention to leave was negatively affected by their work environments. Hospital and nurse managers should be aware of the need to create positive work environments in order to prevent nurses from leaving the profession.