Purpose: Current trends related to nurses’ workforce shortages, recruitment, retention, and quality of health care underscore a need to explore the bio-psycho-social aspects of motivation as a fundamental issue in the analysis and evaluation of nursing work performance and patient care outcomes. Concept clarification of motivation theory was conducted to support development, testing and research about relationships among nurses’ motivation and organizational variables that support effective patient outcomes. Theoretical Framework: Explanation of the Moody Motivational Caring Competence Model is proposed as a theoretical and conceptual framework for nursing research efforts, to illuminate intangible motivational characteristics of the nurse supporting work performance and influencing patient outcomes. Methods: Concept of motivation was explored from multiple perspectives, including contexts, definitions, interrelationships among attributes, antecedents, outcomes, and relational statements. Literature on nurses’ motivation from 1990 – 2003 was analyzed with two research questions in mind, 1) To what degree does nurses’ behavioral motivation influence patient’s motivation for health behaviors? 2) What do we know about nurses’ motivation in terms of nurses’ work environment? Results: Development of Moody Motivational Caring Competence Model. A trans-theoretical model of nurses’ motivational caring and competence was developed and is described. Nurses’ motivational style and related elements appear to influence the delivery of quality nursing care. Nurses’ motivation combined with environmental characteristics is postulated to influence patient care outcomes. Theoretical linkages among concepts are delineated, implications for theory development, administrative direction, future research are discussed. Conclusions: Motivational theory influences nurses’ work performance and patient care outcomes. The Moody Motivational Caring Competence Model is a trans-theoretical framework that needs empirical testing. Research related to the relationships among nurses’ level and type of intrinsic motivation, organizational culture characteristics, and patient health outcomes is likely to yield nursing knowledge useful to nurse administrators, educators and researchers.
Session #1121 - Nursing Theory in Research and Practice
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)