Cultural events provided by employer and occupational wellbeing of employees: A cross-sectional study among hospital nurses

BACKGROUND: Occupational well-being in health care is essential for the quality of care and productivity. Some of the major challenges facing hospital nurses are the personnel turnover, emotional loading and health care reforms. After primary occupational safety and risk management, complementary positive health promotion approaches with cultural interventions can be experimented. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between well-being indicators of hospital nurses and their participation in cultural events provided by the employer (theater, concerts, exhibitions, museums, sight-seeing, and musicals) during past 6 months. METHODS: Subjective well-being was measured by work engagement, workplace support for new ideas, work satisfaction and experienced stress. RESULTS: A dose-dependent association was found between participation in cultural events and positive psychology parameters of occupational well-being (support for new ideas and work engagement), but the experience of stress was unrelated to participation in cultural events. Collective participation has a positive covariant effect on work engagement and seems to mediate the innovative work climate measured by workplace support for new ideas. CONCLUSIONS: Collective cultural events for employees may promote positive aspects of occupational wellbeing.