Factors Associated with Female Nurses’ Intention to Stay after Returning from Parental Leave in South Korea: A Cross Sectional Study

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the factors influencing nurses’ intention to stay after coming back from parental leave. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The participants were 175 female nurses working in hospitals with over 300 beds and returning after three months of parental leave. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression. Results: There were significant differences in intention to stay by age (t=2.65, p<.001) and position (t=-2.23, p=.027). Intention to stay was positively correlated with social support (r=.24, p<.001) and self-efficacy (r=.42, p<.001), and negatively correlated with work-family balance conflict (r=-.21, p=.004). Factors influencing intention to stay were self-efficacy (β=.94, p<.001) and work-family balance conflict (β=-.49, p=.005), with an explanatory power of 20%. Conclusion: The findings allow for proposing that increasing nurses’ intention to stay may require self-efficacy improvements to enable nurses to adjust to their work environment, and hospitals should provide nurses with institutional support in order to reduce nurses’ work-family conflicts.