Factors Influencing Self-Perceived Nursing Competence in Hospital Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

Aim; This study aimed to investigate self-assessment of nurses’ perceived nursing competence and determine how personality traits and ethical climate affect competence when demographic factors, perceived job satisfaction, job-related stress, and coping skills were controlled. Method; A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted. The sample of the study consisted of 316 nurses working in a university hospital between March-June 2021. The Personal Characteristic Form, Holistic Nursing Competence Scale, Ten-Item Personality Traits, and the Hospital Ethical Climate Survey were used to collect data. Job satisfaction, job-related stress, and coping skills were assessed on a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) ranked from zero to ten. Pearson’s correlation and hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted. Results; The mean scores of nurses’ perceived competence were moderate. Ethical climate perceptions and personality traits (extraversion and openness to experience) significantly correlated with the nurse's self-perception of competence. The statistically significant factors influencing perceived nursing competence were ethical climate perceptions, openness to experience, and perceived coping skills based on the results of the hierarchical linear analysis. Conclusion; Having better ethical climate perceptions, the personality trait of openness to experience, and increased coping skills were associated with the increased self-perception of nursing competence.