Abstract:
Objectives
This study aimed to promote the work ability among nurse working by using quantitative
and qualitative research methods.
Method
We measured work ability by a self administered questionnaire ; called the
Work ability index ; WAI (Finish institute of Occupational Health , 1998).The seven index
consist of 1) The comparison between the current work ability and the lifetime best 2)
Work ability in relation to mental demand of job and mental resource 3) Amount of
diagnostic diseases 4) The mistaken-work from illness 5) How many day off from
illness in this year 6) Work ability predict toward 2 years later and 7) Mind status while
working and relaxing. The subjects consisted of 72 nurses working in a 150 bed university
hospital in the Eastern region of Thailand. The process of study was divided into 4
phases ; including assessment of problems , planning of programs , implementation and
intervention evaluation. Re-planning and re–evaluating were done to obtain the
information generated from the action implemented. T-test was used to analyze the
mean difference of WAI and its items between age group.
Finding
The subjects’ mean age was 31.03 years (SD = 6.7) . The mean WAI of nurses
increased from 39.8 (SD = 3.2) to 40.4 (SD = 3.1) after intervention. When the WAI of
nurses was compared between age groups , it was found that the WAI of nurses less
than thirty was lower than those of nurses older than thirty both before and after
intervention. The current work ability was compared with the lifetime best , work ability
in relation to mental demands of job and mental resource were significant lower in
younger group than those in older group. From interview , some nurses reported that
the younger nurses were temporary staff , which affected their emotional , job security
confidence and career plans.
The results suggestion
Psychological support from nurse managers is important in improving the
work ability of younger nurses.