The Relationship of Educational Preparation, Autonomy, and Critical Thinking to Nursing Job Satisfaction

This descriptive correlational study explored factors influencing job satisfaction in nursing. Relationships between educational preparation, autonomy, and critical thinking and job satisfaction were examined.A convenience sample of 140 registered nurses was drawn from medical-surgical, management, and home health nursing specialties. The nurses were asked to complete the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire. Relationships between variables were analyzed to determine which explained the most variance in job satisfaction.Results indicated significant positive correlations between total job satisfaction and perceived autonomy, critical thinking, educational preparation, and job satisfiers. Significant negative correlations between job dissatisfiers and total job satisfaction were also found.Understanding nursing job satisfaction through critical thinking, educational level, and autonomy is the key to staff retention. Further research focusing on increasing these satisfiers is needed.