Title: Assertiveness of young nurses
Abstract:
Objective: This study aimed to identify characteristics of the assertiveness of young nurses.
Methods: A self-rating questionnaire survey was conducted with young nurses of five hospitals where nursing directors had expressed consent to the study participation, from September to November of 2019. The questionnaire included the Novice Nurse Assertiveness Scale (NNAS), the emotional intelligence scale, and the team collaboration scale.
Results: The participants were 805 female and 72 male nurses with a mean age of 22.60 ± 3.07. Analysis of the scores of the NNAS showed the percentages of participants who met the following characteristics of assertiveness: 9.2% accept improper evaluations (undirected and passive attitudes, such as accepting improper evaluations of others); 66.7% suggested non-assertive attitudes (undirected and non-assertive attitudes with priority on others); and 24.2% were unresponsive or aggressive (inappropriate, unresponsive, and aggressive attitudes with priority on own rights). For correlations with other continuous variables by the NNAS subscales, acceptance of improper evaluations was inversely correlated with emotional intelligence, being suitable for being nurses, self-confidence in nursing practices, diligence, and team collaboration, and also correlated with burnout and neuroticism. A non-assertive attitude was inversely correlated with self-confidence in nursing practices, rapidness of judgment, and extroversion, and also correlated with burnout and neuroticism. Unresponsive or aggressive attitudes were only correlated with team collaboration.
Discussion: Young nurses who accept improper evaluations of others display low emotional intelligence, do not think of being suitable for being nurses, and lack self-confidence in nursing practices with poor diligence and team collaboration. They also display burnout tendencies and neuroticism. Those who are non-assertive lack self-confidence in nursing practices, display a lack of rapidness in judgments, slowness of judgments, introverted attitudes, burnout tendencies, and neuroticism. Respondents who are unresponsive or aggressive had no negative attitudes against themselves, but showed poor team cooperation. Nursing administrators need to support young nurses by identifying the characteristics and tendencies of assertiveness of staff nurses.
