Relationship Between Sleep‐Related Worry, Work Well‐Being, and Retention Intention Among Nurses: A Cross‐Sectional Multicenter Study

<b>Background:</b> Nurses experience prolonged periods of heavy work pressure, and issues such as poor sleep quality frequently result in work-related anxiety and physical fatigue. Consequently, the academic community has increasingly focused on nurses' work well-being and retention intention. However, the specific impact of sleep-related worry on nurses' work well-being and retention intention remains underexplored. <b>Aims:</b> The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between sleep-related worry, work well-being, and retention intention among nurses. <b>Methods:</b> This study adopted a multicenter cross-sectional design and selected 1831 nurses from different medical institutions in China as the research subjects. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire, including demographic characteristics, the Chinese Nurse Intention to Remain Employed Questionnaire, the Work Well-being Scale, and the Anxiety and Preoccupation about Sleep Questionnaire. IBM SPSS 27.0 was used for descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, single-factor analysis, and mediation effect analysis (Model 4 in PROCESS). <b>Results:</b> The sleep-related worry was significantly negatively correlated with work well-being and retention intention (<i>r</i> = -0.434, <i>p</i> < 0.01 and <i>r</i> = -0.311, <i>p</i> < 0.01), the work well-being and retention intention were positively correlated (<i>r</i> = 0.576, <i>p</i> < 0.01). The work well-being played a mediating role between sleep-related worry and retention intention, with the intermediate effect accounting for 75.86% of the total effect. <b>Conclusion:</b> This study shows that nurses' sleep-related worry not only directly affect their work well-being but also further affect their retention intention through affecting work well-being. <b>Implications for Nursing Management:</b> By investigating the relationship between nurses' sleep-related worry, work well-being, and their retention intention, this study recommends that nursing managers focus on improving nurses' sleep quality, mitigating their sleep-related worry, and offering enhanced support. These measures can effectively increase work well-being, which in turn may strengthen nurses' retention intention and mitigate brain drain.