Poor Nurses’ Work Environment Increases Quiet Quitting and Reduces Work Engagement: A Cross-Sectional Study in Greece

Background: /Objectives: The nursing work environment, encompassing accessible resources and established processes, might affect nurses' professional behavior. Our aim was to examine the effect of nurse work environment on quiet quitting and work engagement among nurses. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study with nurses in Greece. We used the “Practice Environment Scale-5” to measure nurse work environment, the “Quiet Quitting Scale” to measure quiet quitting, and the “Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-3” to measure work engagement among nurses. We developed multivariable regression models adjusted for gender, age, understaffed ward, shift work, and work experience. Results: After controlling for confounders, we found that lower nurse participation in hospital affairs, worse collegial nurse‐physician relationships, worse nursing foundations for quality of care, and lower levels of nurse manager ability, leadership, and support were associated with higher levels of quiet quitting among nurses. Moreover, our multivariable analysis identified a positive association between nurse manager ability, leadership, and support, collegial nurse‐physician relationships, nursing foundations for quality of care and work engagement among nurses. Conclusion: We found that poor nurses’ work environment was associated with higher levels of quiet quitting. Moreover, our findings showed that nurses work environment had a positive impact on work engagement.