Abstract:

Objective To explore the impact of the work environment on subjective well-being among internal medicine nurses，and to examine the mediating role of work autonomy and psychological capital in this process. Methods From March to August 2022，a convenience sampling method was used to select 153 internal medicine nurses from three grade-A tertiary hospitals in Hubei Province as the research subjects. The survey was conducted using general information survey forms，work autonomy scale，psychological capital scale，work environment scale，and subjective well-being scale，and the data were analyzed. Results The scores for the working environment，work autonomy，psychological capital，and subjective well-being of internal medicine nurses were （3.14±0.53），（3.49±0.77），（3.55±0.62），and （75.15±14.59）points，respectively. Pearson correlation analysis showed that all variables were positively correlated（all P<0.01）.The work environment had a direct predictive effect on subjective well-being（β=0.389），and positively predicted work autonomy（β=0.267） and psychological capital（β=0.123）. Work autonomy also positively predicted psychological capital（β=0.287） and subjective well-being（β=0.154），while psychological capital directly positively predicted subjective well-being（β=0.611），with statistically significant differences（allP<0.01）. The Bootstrap test showed that the direct effect of the work environment and the indirect and chain mediated effects of work autonomy and psychological capital were all significant，accounting for 70.97%，6.61%，12.10%，and 10.32% of the total effect，respectively. Conclusion A good working environment helps to enhance the subjective well-being of internal medicine nurses，and work autonomy and psychological capital play important mediating roles in this process. Optimizing the work environment，enhancing work autonomy and psychological capital level are effective ways to improve nurses' subjective well-being.

Key words: Internal medicine nurse, Work autonomy, Psychological capital, Work environment, Subjective well-being