Positive affect and job performance in psychiatric nurses: A moderated mediation analysis

Abstract

Aims

The aims of this research were (a) to determine if job satisfaction plays an intermediary role between positive affect and job performance; (b) to explore whether the mediating process of positive affect affecting job performance through job satisfaction is moderated by the work seniority of psychiatric nurses.

Design

A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study.

Methods

From January 2021 to May 2022, a total of 328 psychiatric nurses were recruited through online advertisements. Data regarding positive affect, job satisfaction, work seniority and job performance were obtained through survey questionnaires. The moderated mediation model was examined in this study utilizing the SPSS (Version 26.0) macro process 3.3, with job satisfaction as the mediation variable and work seniority as the moderation variable.

Results

Job performance and job satisfaction were both positively connected with positive affect, while job satisfaction was favourably correlated with job performance. Job satisfaction played a part mediating role between positive affect and job performance, with an effect value of 0.10, accounting for 22.22% of the total effect. And work seniority moderated the second half of the mediating process.

Conclusion

Positive affect positively affected job performance through two paths, directly or indirectly. Part of the intermediate role of job satisfaction between positive affect and job performance is regulated by seniority; that is, work seniority buffered the positive effect of positive affect on job performance.

Impact

This study revealed how positive affect works and elaborated the conditions to play a role, which greatly enriched the content of positive psychology and had important significance for deepening and expanding the relationship between positive affect and job performance. It also provided a reference for nursing managers to implement humanized management, build a high-performance psychiatric nurse team and promote the long-term development of psychiatric hospitals.

Patient or public contribution

Three hundred and twenty-eight psychiatric nurses participated in the questionnaire. Trained staff were involved in data collection.

INTRODUCTION

Job performance is a series of actions taken by employees to achieve the organization's goal based on their self-recognition, and the results of these behaviours (Motowidlo & Van Scotter, 1994). Nurses' job performance refers to the behaviours and results related to nursing work, it is the embodiment of nursing professional knowledge and skills, and an important indicator measure of the contribution of nurses to hospitals and society (Guo et al., 2020). Evaluating and improving nurses' job performance makes them feel valued. It will help to improve departments' work efficiency, improve patients' prognoses and improve the quality of medical services (Guo et al., 2020; Wujin, 2021). At present, the loss of nursing staff has been a global problem, and the loss of psychiatric nurses is particularly prominent (Marc et al., 2019; Rahmani et al., 2021). As a particular group in the nursing team, psychiatric nurses work in the face of patients with mental disorders. These patients with mental disorders cannot take care of themselves, have poor compliance and sometimes violent behaviours against others or suicidal self-harm behaviours (Matsumoto & Yoshioka, 2019; Meihua & Zhiliang, 2020; Mukaihata et al., 2021). Therefore, psychiatric nurses' work risks and work difficulties are higher than nonpsychiatric nurses (Meihua & Zhiliang, 2020; Mukaihata et al., 2021). In addition, the closed special working environment, the shortage of nursing staff in the psychiatric department, the incomprehension of family members and social prejudice will all aggravate the work burden and psychological pressure of psychiatric nurses (Novitayani et al., 2021). However, it harms job performance when they remain in a high-load, high-risk and stressful state for an extended period (Al-Nuaimi et al., 2021; Bernburg et al., 2019). The stability and improvement of nurses' job performance are crucial to stabilizing the nursing team, reducing the wastage rate of nursing talents and promoting the long-term development of nursing disciplines and hospitals (Bao, 2022; Guo et al., 2020; Wujin, 2021). Therefore, how to improve psychiatric nurses' job performance and enable psychiatric nurses to maintain their nursing jobs has become an important issue worldwide.

In 2000, Seligman (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) proposed the concept of positive psychology. They pointed out that positive psychology is a psychological science that studies the excellent qualities of human beings, explores people's own best potential and strength and promotes the healthy development of individuals and the whole society (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Unlike traditional psychology, positive psychology emphasizes the study of positive affect, positive relationships and good quality. Previous studies (Krentzman et al., 2022; Shaghaghi et al., 2019; Waters et al., 2022) have shown that positive psychology is essential for promoting people's mental health, disease recovery and happiness. As an important concept in positive psychology, positive affect can reflect the degree of personal feeling of passion, activeness and alertness, which are usually accompanied by subjective experiences of pleasure and happiness, in favour of improving people's enthusiasm and activity efficiency (Bouckenooghe et al., 2013; Diener et al., 2020; Watson et al., 1988). With the continuous development of positive psychology, some scholars have paid attention to the important role of positive affect in work organizations. Studies (Berger & Grosse Wiesmann, 2022; Carmona-Halty et al., 2021) have shown, people with high positive affect may choose higher goals, show greater determination to solve problems and be able to adopt more effective coping strategies. It can improve employees' job satisfaction, which in turn stimulates their work enthusiasm and creativity, and ultimately improves their job performance (Forjan et al., 2020; Kagwe et al., 2019). As early as 1991, scholars such as Isen (Isen et al., 1991) clearly pointed out that positive affect played an important role in increasing people's activities, enhancing people's vitality and improving job performance. In addition, Jasiński (2022) discovered that job satisfaction was positively influenced by positive affect as well. Employees' job satisfaction is defined as their emotional attitude towards the job and its related aspects (Guan et al., 2014). Nurses are the defenders of human health. The job satisfaction of nurses not only affects nurses' health and performance (Katebi et al., 2022; Pereira et al., 2021). It also affects the quality of care that nurses provide to patients (Kabbash et al., 2020). Moreover, a study has found that positive affect can influence the job satisfaction of general hospital nurses and then influence their job performance (Dandan, 2016). However, most existing research focuses on all nurses, and there is little research on nurses in different departments (e.g., psychiatric nurses, intensive-care unit nurses, outpatient nurses). Given the distinctiveness of nurses in psychiatric department, is the relationship among positive affect, job satisfaction and job performance consistent with that of nurses in general hospitals? It has not yet been confirmed. Therefore, it is necessary to verify the relationship among these three variables in psychiatric nurses.

Ecosystem theory states that the interaction between individuals and the environment jointly influences the behaviour and development of individuals (Peng et al., 2021). Positive affect and job satisfaction belong to individual subjective experiences and emotional attitudes, respectively (Mingfang, 2021; Said & El-Shafei, 2021). Job performance is usually seen as a result of individual behaviour (Motowidlo & Van Scotter, 1994). Therefore, the indirect process by which positive affect influence job performance through job satisfaction may be moderated by other objective factors. As an objective indicator, work seniority is of great significance to employees. Work seniority is an essential factor affecting the value and contribution of employees to the organization (Yu et al., 2021). Previous studies (Gunawan et al., 2019; Shaheen et al., 2021) have shown that work seniority is significantly positively correlated with satisfaction and job performance. Zhou (2018) has pointed out that the salaries and allowances of medical staff with long working years will increase accordingly. Moreover, with the increase in seniority, they often have the promotion to professional titles and positions. So, the medical staff with long working years have greater autonomy, are more satisfied with their work and perform better (Ta'An et al., 2020). Hanan's research shows that nurses' job performance increased as they work seniority grew (Al-Ahmadi, 2009). Dandan (2016) pointed out that nurses who have worked for long years will accumulate a lot of experience and excellent qualities. In particular, old nurses are superior to junior nurses in judgement, communication ability and emergency handling. Nurses' working ability and level are gradually improved with work seniority, so the job performance of nurses with long work seniority is higher than those with short work seniority (Jin, Cong, et al., 2021). Thus, work seniority may act as a moderating role in the relationship between job satisfaction and performance. However, studies that directly explore how work seniority play a part in job satisfaction and job performance are scarce, and no research has been found in the healthcare population. This study expanded the scope of the research to the medical and health industry to provide an empirical basis for clarifying how the work seniority performs a role in the process of positive affect impact on the job performance of psychiatric nurses.

Based on the above analysis, we propose two hypotheses as follows (Figure 1):1Hypothesis

Psychiatric nurses' job satisfaction mediates between positive affect and job performance.

2Hypothesis

Psychiatric nurses' work seniority can moderate the second half of the mediating process that positive affect influences job performance through job satisfaction.

THE STUDY Aims

The aims of this research were (a) to understand the internal mechanisms involved in positive affect's effect on job performance among psychiatric nurses; (b) to determine if job satisfaction plays an intermediary role between positive affect and job performance and (c) to explore whether the mediating process of positive affect affecting job performance through job satisfaction is moderated by the seniority of psychiatric nurses.

Design

This study is a model-based, questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study.

Sample/participants

This study recruited nurses who meet the criteria for inclusion and exclusion through online advertisements to participate. The inclusive criteria were (a) Nurses registered in the Chinese People's Republic; (b) Have been engaged in clinical nursing or nursing administration for at least 1 year and currently work in the psychiatric department; (c) not diagnosed with mental illness or addiction and (d) Informed consent and voluntary contribution to research. The exclusion criteria included: (a) Nursing personnel in retirement and (b) resting nurses during the investigation.

Measurements General information questionnaire

Self-designed general information questionnaire was used to collect the demographic data of participants. The contents of the General Information Questionnaire mainly include gender, age, only-child or not, education level, professional title, marital status and working seniority in nursing.

Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS).

The Scale was compiled by Watson (Bin et al., 2020) in 1988; it is used to investigate the degree to which people experience the emotions described in the scale items. In 2003, Chinese scholar Huang Li (2003) revised the scale. The scale includes two subscales of positive affect and negative affect, with 20 items (this study only uses 10 items of positive affect subscale). Using the Likert 5-point scoring method, a scale of 1 to 5 indicates none, relatively few, moderate, many and very many. The higher the score is, the more pronounced the corresponding affect experience is. For the total PANAS, Cronbach's α coefficient is 0.82. For both positive and negative affect subscales, Cronbach's α coefficients, respectively are 0.85 and 0.83, indicating high reliability.

Job Satisfaction Index (JSI)

It was originally developed by Schriesheim & Tsui in 1980 (Schriesheim & Tsui, 1980). It includes six items to evaluate employees' satisfaction with the job itself, leaders, colleagues, earnings, opportunities for advancement and the whole job. The scale uses the Likert5-level scoring method; a score of 1 means ‘very dissatisfied’, and 5 means ‘very satisfied’. All item scores are added together, and the higher the overall score is, the more satisfied they are with their work. The Cronbach's α coefficient is 0.95 (Labrague et al., 2017), which has good reliability.

Job performance.

Developed by Janssen in 2001 (Janssen, 2001; Özbek & Bozkurt, 2018), it includes five items of ‘I can always fulfil the responsibilities set out in my job description’, ‘I performed all the duties my job required’, ‘I often fail to fulfil the basic duties’, ‘I have never neglected any aspect of the work for which I am responsible’ and ‘I have fulfilled the performance requirements of my work’, which is used to measure job performance. The Scale using a 7-level scoring method, ‘strongly disagree-strongly agree’, is represented by 1–7 points, respectively but the third item was reversely scored. The higher the total score is, the highest job performance. The Cronbach's α coefficient is 0.73, which has good reliability.

Data collection

Data were collected by highly trained investigators. We recruited qualified participants by publishing online advertisements and obtained the written informed consent of all participants before the survey. The questions that were not understand by participants in the field survey were clarified by investigators following uniform guidelines. From January 2021to May 2022, a total of 331 nurses who qualified for criteria were recruited, of which 328 nurses' answers were all valid. The response rate was 99.09%.

Ethical considerations

XX Hospital has approved the study's ethical approval. ‘REDACTED’ All questionnaires were self-filled by participants anonymously on site. Before the investigation, the consent and cooperation of the leaders of each hospital and each department were obtained.

Data analysis

This study used SPSS (Version 26.0) for statistical analysis. Shapiro–Wilk and a histogram were used to test the normality of the data in this study. Count data were described by frequency (n) and the percentage (%). While measurement data with non-normal distribution were described using median and IQR, the Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis H test were used for comparison of differences in the scores of nurses with different characteristics in terms of job performance. The correlation between variables was tested using the correlation analysis. The effects of mediation and moderation were examined through the SPSS (Version 26.0) macro program Process 3.3. Statistics were conducted on a two-sided basis, and p < 0.05 was considered significant.

Validity, reliability and rigour

The scales used in this study had good reliability and validity. The data were collected one-on-one by strictly trained staff to ensure the authenticity, integrity and rigour of the data.

Check for common method deviation bias

Since the data in this study were all obtained from self-reports by psychiatric nurses, there may be common method bias; therefore, to reduce and control the influence of common method deviation on the results, make the research more rigorous and the results more valid, we used process control measures such as answering anonymously, informing respondents that all information is strictly confidential and used only for scientific research, reverse scoring of individual items, and clarifying ambiguous statements (Tehseen et al., 2017). In addition, The questionnaire data collected were tested using Harman's single factor test; the results indicated that the eigenvalues of all four factors exceeded 1, and the variance explained by the first factor was 37.38%, which is well under the 40% critical threshold (Zeng & Tan, 2021), which indicated that this study was free of serious methodology bias.

RESULES Demographic characteristics and correlation analysis

The participants in this study were mainly females, with an average age of 31.31 ± 7.52 years old. The specific features of the participants were shown in Table 1. The data in this investigation did not conform to the normal distribution, according to the normality test. The results of Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis H test showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the job performance scores of nurses of different genders, ages, only children or not, education backgrounds, professional titles and marital status (Table 1). For testing the correlation between the variables, a Spearman correlation analysis was performed. The findings revealed that positive affect and job performance (r = 0.43, p < 0.001), positive affect and job satisfaction (r = 0.34, p < 0.001), job satisfaction and job performance (r = 0.34, p < 0.001) all showed a medium-intensity positive correlation (Table 2).

TABLE 1 Baseline characteristics and difference in the job performance score of psychiatric nurses (n = 328)

[Table omitted. See PDF]

TABLE 2 Media, interquartile range and correlations matrix of variables (n = 328)

Variable	Median (IQR)	r
		1	2	3	4
1 Positive affect	34.00 (30.00, 38.00)	1.00
2 Job performance	30.00 (30.00, 32.75)	0.43***	1.00
3 Job satisfaction	22.50 (19.00, 24.00)	0.34***	0.34***	1.00
4 Work seniority	8.00 (5.00, 12.00)	−0.21	0.09	−0.02	1.00

***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05.

Model testing

First, the mediation effect of job satisfaction on the connotation between positive affect and job performance was assessed initially via the Model 4 (a simple mediation model) in SPSS macro compiled by Hayes (2012). Based on the results, positive affect positively predicted job performance (β = 0.45, t = 9.19, p < 0.001), and when the mediation variables were added, the positive predictive effect of positive affect on job performance was still significant (β = 0.35, t = 7.12, p < 0.001). Positive affect had a, significant positive predictive effect on job satisfaction (β = 0.33, t = 6.37, p < 0.001), Job satisfaction had a significant positive predictive effect on job performance (β = 0.30, t = 6.04, p < 0.001) (Table 3). Furthermore, the upper and lower bounds of the bootstrap 95% confidence intervals (bootstrap 95% CI) of the direct impact of positive affect on job performance and the mediating effect of job satisfaction did not contain 0 (Table 4), it showed that positive affect could predict job performance not only directly but also indirectly through the mediation effect of job satisfaction (Boot SE in Table 4 refers to the standard error of the indirect effects estimated by the bias-corrected percentile Bootstrap method). The direct effect (0.35) and mediation effect (0.10) accounted for 77.78% and 22.22% of the total effect (0.45), respectively. Hypothesis 1 was supported.

TABLE 3 Mediation role of job satisfaction

Variable	Dependent variable job performance		Dependent variable job performance		Dependent variable job satisfaction
	β	t	β	t	β	t
Constant
Positive affect	0.45	9.19***	0.35	7.12***	0.33	6.37***
Job satisfaction			0.30	6.04***
R 2	0.21		0.29		0.11
F(df)	86.48*** (1,326)		65.08*** (2,325)		40.52*** (1,326)

Note: The data has been standardized.

***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05.

TABLE 4 Decomposition table of total effect, direct effect and indirect effect

[Table omitted. See PDF]

Note: The data has been standardized.

***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05.

Secondly, using model 14 in SPSS macro compiled by Hayes (2012) (In Model14, the second half of the mediation model is adjusted, which is in keeping with this study's theoretical model) to test whether the influence of positive affect on job performance through job satisfaction was regulated by the work seniority. After putting the work seniority into the model, the results showed that the product of job satisfaction and work seniority had a significant predictive effect on job performance (β = −0.18, t = −4.22, p < 0.001) (Table 5), which indicates that work seniority moderates the second half of the mediating process. Hypothesis 2 was confirmed.

TABLE 5 The moderating effect of work seniority

Variable	Equation 1		Equation 2
	Dependent variable:		Dependent variable:
	Job satisfaction		Job performance
	β	t	β	t
Constant	-	-	−0.01	−0.22
Positive affect	0.33	6.37	0.34	7.04***
Job satisfaction			0.31	6.45***
Work seniority			0.10	2.23*
Job satisfaction × work seniority			−0.18	−4.22***
R 2	0.10		0.34
F(df)	40.52*** (1,326)		42.83*** (4,323)

Note: The data has been standardized.

***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05.

Finally, to reveal the law for work seniority to adjust the effect of job satisfaction on job performance, a simple slope test was further conducted. The results showed (Figure 2, Table 6), when the level of work seniority was low (M-1SD), the impact of job satisfaction on job performance was significant (β = 0.49, t = 7.57, p < 0.001). while when the level of work seniority was relatively high (M + SD), there was a small positive effect of job satisfaction on job performance as well (β = 0.13, t = 2.06, p < 0.001). In addition, at three levels of work seniority, job satisfaction also showed a decreasing mediating effect on the relationship between positive affect and job performance, that is, with the increase of work seniority of psychiatric nurses, the positive predictive effect of job satisfaction on job performance gradually weakened.

TABLE 6 The mediating effect of job satisfaction under different work seniority levels

Work seniority level	Effect size	BootSE	LLCI	ULCI
Effect 1 (M − 1SD)	0.163	0.043	0.088	0.256
Effect 2 (M)	0.103	0.028	0.054	0.164
Effect 3 (M + 1SD)	0.044	0.024	0.004	0.097

DISCUSSION

Study findings revealed that positive affect positively impacted the work performance of psychiatric nurses. Nurses with high positive affect had higher job performance. The discovery is in line with previous studies (Peñalver et al., 2020). The reason is that, on the one hand, emotion is the embodiment of human wisdom and substantially impacts human behaviour, while work is the main activity in people's daily life. So work is bound to be influenced by emotion (Dandan, 2016). On the other hand, positive affect provides individuals with a sense of psychological security and comfort, which can promote employees to work better (including more work participation) and produce positive behavioural results (Dong et al., 2021; Xingyong et al., 2022).

Study results showed that job satisfaction as a mediation variable could influence the relationship between positive affect and job performance. That is, positive affect could directly or indirectly influence the job performance of psychiatric nurses. On the one hand, positive affect could directly impact the job performance of psychiatric nurses, and the higher the positive affect was, the higher the job performance. On the other hand, positive affect indirectly influenced job performance by influencing job satisfaction. Based on previous research, the findings are similar (Dandan, 2016; Ting et al., 2019). Al-Ahmadi (2009) proposed that ‘pleasant workers are productive workers’ and believed that providing an excellent working environment and conditions for employees could improve their job satisfaction and thus improve their job performance (Ta'An et al., 2020). However, improving the working environment and conditions, creating an excellent working atmosphere, etc., can all be regarded as the company's efforts to improve employees' positive affect (Zeng et al., 2020). Analyse the reasons. First, positive affect helps the self-psychological adjustment. Employees who have long-term positive emotional experiences have a higher level of psychology health, and positive affect can help alleviate the symptoms of psychological stress. A good mental state will have a certain impact on employees' job satisfaction, thereby improving their work enthusiasm, work efficiency and work effect (Kundi et al., 2020; Yunping & Huahua, 2019). Second, as the general cognition and evaluation of the work, job satisfaction itself is influenced by the emotional state (positive affect, negative affect, etc.) (Matsumoto & Yoshioka, 2019; Said & El-Shafei, 2021). Moreover, the employee's attitude towards work will affect their behaviour at work. Among these behaviour states, job performance is the most important part (Katebi et al., 2022). Research shows that employees who are satisfied with their job are more willing to devote energy to their work to provide better performance (Qureshi et al., 2019). Therefore, job satisfaction can be used as an intermediary variable to affect the relationship between positive emotions and job performance.

The results of the moderating effect showed that work seniority moderates the second half of the mediating process in which positive affect influences job performance through job satisfaction. When the work seniority was short, job satisfaction made a positive prediction for job performance; When the work seniority was long, the positive predictive effect of job satisfaction on job performance was weakened. That is, the longer the work seniority of psychiatric nurses was, the more it cut the positive impact of job satisfaction on job performance. The discovery is similar to the conclusion of previous studies that ‘job performance will improve with the increase of work seniority’ (Rong & Rong, 2020; Xiaohong et al., 2019). Analysing the reason, according to the ecosystem theory, ‘individual behavior and development are affected by both internal and external factors’ (Peng et al., 2021). Positive affect and job satisfaction are internal factors. Work seniority is an objective and external indicator that cannot be changed. Therefore, as an essential part of job behaviour (Katebi et al., 2022), job performance will not only be affected by positive affect and job satisfaction but also be regulated by work seniority. Moreover, with the increased work seniority of psychiatric nurses, they will have greater empowerment and more clinical experience to handle clinical issues more efficiently. Therefore, their performance will continue to improve (Setiadi et al., 2020; Ta'An et al., 2020). However, the work seniority in this study refers to the work seniority of psychiatric nurses during their whole nursing career. So, nurses with high work seniority are also older. Some scholars (Ding et al., 2022; Kurniawan et al., 2019) have pointed out that with the increase of age, various skill levels, especially those related to strength, speed, coordination and agility, will continue to decline over time, so psychiatric nurses with high work seniority are more prone to fatigue. At the same time, psychiatric nurses with high work seniority face the physical and mental pain of patients with mental disorders all year round in clinical work and maintain relatively high mental tension for a long time (Gunawan et al., 2019). The results will lead to excessive fatigue and psychological pressure on psychiatric nurses, affecting the quality of care, thus reducing the positive impact of high work seniority (Jin, Xiaoqiong, et al., 2021; Ling & Hong, 2022; Oliveira et al., 2019). In addition, Psychiatric nurses do not have good career development and promotion channels, and most nurses' career peaks stay at the level of head nurses (Yushu, 2021). The work content of psychiatric nurses is monotonous and boring, and repetitive tasks account for most of them (Xiuyun, 2019). Long-term stable and monotonous completion of department work will weaken their morale, offset the benefits of the experience and knowledge accumulated in their years of work and thus affect job performance improvement (Mushtaq et al., 2022). Of course, the reasons for the relationship mentioned above among psychiatric nurses' job satisfaction, work seniority and job performance may be more than these. More specific reasons need to be further explored in the future.

Limitations and implication

Several limitations of this study exist. First, during the study, a cross-sectional design was used, and we could not infer causality from the results of the study. Future studies could examine the causal relationship between the above variables using longitudinal or experimental designs. Second, this study obtained all variables by self-reporting, so its accuracy and objectivity might be affected to some extent. Finally, this study only examined the mediating variable of job satisfaction and the moderating variable of work seniority. It could be further explored in the future whether there are other mediating and moderating variables.

Although this study has some limitations, it still has specific research value and significance. From the perspective of positive affect, this study investigated the mechanism between positive affect and the job performance of psychiatric nurses. It greatly enriched positive psychology content and had important significance for deepening and expanding the relationship between positive affect and job performance. Moreover, it also provided a reference for nursing managers to implement humanized management, build a high-performance psychiatric nurse team and promote the long-term development of psychiatric hospitals.

Conclusion and recommendations

This study demonstrated that positive affect could directly or indirectly impact job performance through job satisfaction. Part of the mediating effect of job satisfaction between positive affect and job performance was regulated by work seniority, that is, with the increase in work seniority of psychiatric nurses, the positive impact of job satisfaction on job performance tends to weaken gradually.

Based on the above conclusions, we make the following recommendations. Firstly, it is suggested that psychiatric hospitals can improve their positive affect by improving the working environment, creating a good working atmosphere and providing material and spiritual incentives to nurses. This not only helps to improve their job satisfaction but also stimulates their work enthusiasm and creativity, resulting in higher job performance. Secondly, psychiatric nursing managers should carry out personalized management, reasonably arrange positions and assign jobs according to the nurses' personal ability, age and work seniority. Thirdly, nursing managers should formulate a talent training plan suitable for psychiatric nurses, optimize the promotion system, urge high work seniority nurses to pursue higher career goals, and fully mobilize their initiative to improve job performance. Finally, it is recommended that psychiatric hospitals strengthen humanistic care and psychological counselling for high work seniority nurses to relieve the psychological pressure accumulated by their long-term work and strengthen vocational training so that they can fully realize the importance of this profession to patients and society, enhance professional honour sense of mission, thereby enhancing their work enthusiasm and engagement, and promoting the continuous improvement of job performance.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

XCM was involved in all aspects of the study and preparation of the manuscript. DMW was involved with the design of the study and preparation of the manuscript. XFH was involved in the revision of the manuscript.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are thankful to all the nurses who participated in the study. We also thank the heads of the relevant hospital nursing departments, who worked closely with our team to ensure the smooth conduct of the investigation.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declares that there is no conflict of interest.

FUNDING STATEMENT

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 82001444).

EXPLAIN

We cited more than 25 articles. We cited these references because we wanted to support our research with deep and complete references to enhance our research's reliability and persuasiveness.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

ETHICS STATEMENT

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Committee of Chengdu 4th Hospital. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.