Empowerment and turnover of nurse managers before and after a major health care reform in Cyprus: A cross sectional study

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the perceived empowerment and turnover intention of middle nurse managers before and after the implementation of a major reform of the health care system in Cyprus, which also includes the transition of public hospitals towards administrative and financial autonomy. Background: The empowerment of nurse managers is important since previous studies have shown that it is associated with performance at work and may have an impact on their turnover intention. Methods: A repeated cross-sectional study was conducted in March 2019 (first phase) and was repeated in March 2020 (second phase), after the introduction of major changes. The target population was all nurse managers of the public hospitals. The final sample consisted of 175 (RR 94%) participants in the first phase and 178 (RR 95.6%) in the second. Results: Measurements at both time points revealed moderate levels of perceived empowerment among Cyprus nurse managers. Empowerment score (17.95) appeared slightly lower at the repeat measurement compared to the first empowerment score (18), but the observed difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.184). Among the categories of empowerment opportunities was presenting statistically significant differences between the two phases. At the second phase, mean scores of empowerment were consistently lower among those who stated YES compared to those who stated NO in relation to (a) the intention to change department, (b) the intention to change profession and (c) the intention to change organization/hospital. Conclusions: This study demonstrated lower levels of empowerment among nurse managers with turnover intentions. It is therefore needed to be investigated further whether lower empowerment levels are the main reason for turnover intentions. It also suggests the need for senior management to create opportunities and to develop and implement interventions which aim to maintain and further improve the empowerment of the nurse managers and assess their effectiveness in terms of turnover intention in the organization. Implications for nursing policy: The senior management of the hospitals needs to adopt retention strategies by establishing an empowered positive working environment for nurse managers. Nurse managers need to collaborate with the senior management and seek more access to opportunities, information, support and resources which will enable them to perform their duties with efficiency and be more effective.