The relationships of role conflict, role ambiguity, and sense of coherence among head nurses

Abstract

The Relationships of Role Conflictp Role Ambiguity, and Sense of Coherence Among Head Nurses ( u--·nde·r the .. direction of DR. NANCY MCCAIN) The purpose of this descriptive correlational study ~as to ascertain if a relationship existed between head nurses' perceived· role conflict, role ambiguity, and sense of coherence. The theor~tical framework for the study was ba.sed on the Kahn et .al. ( 1964) ro 1 e episode model and Antonovsky's (1987) concept of sense of coherence. The subjects were _·cQmprised of a convenience sample of 30 head nurses in a southeastern metropolitan area Veteran's Administration Hospital who participated in a management development course. Data were collected with the use of a demographic data- questionnaire, Rol~ Conflict and Ambiguity Scale by Rizzo et al. (1964)p and Sense of Coherence Scale by Antonovsky (1987) during the first in the series of management development classes to measure perceived levels of role conflict, subtypes of role conflict, and role ambiguity as well as the level of sense of coherence. Secondary analysis was chosen as a means for obtaining da~a to determine if there were correlations among the variables, using the Pe~rson product-moment technique·. A sign1ficant (R :~ ~05) negative correlation (~ = -.46) was tound b~tween sen~e of eoh~rence and role ambiguity~ Other significant f~ndings included a nega~ive correlation between person~role conflict and highest ~ducational lev~l attai~ed. 1~ ~. ~··~?) and positive correlations between years in current position and intra-sender role confli~t (~ = .31), job satisfaction and person-role conflict (~ = .38)9 intra-sender role· conflic~ and job satisfactiori (~ = .37), and role ambiguity and job satisfaction (~ = .51), as well as with sense of coherence and· years in current position(~= .33).