PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS, WORKPLACE PROVISIONS, AND JOB SATISFACTION AMONG DEPED NURSES IN NUEVA ECIJA, PHILIPPINES: A DESCRIPTIVE-CORRELATIONAL STUDY

Background: School nurses provide essential health services in educational settings, yet their professional development needs and workplace support may differ from those of hospital-based nurses. Evidence specific to Department of Education (DepEd) nurses in Nueva Ecija is limited. Objective: This study assessed professional development needs, perceived adequacy of workplace provisions, and job satisfaction among DepEd nurses in Nueva Ecija, and examined associations and selected group differences. Methods: A quantitative descriptive-correlational-comparative design was used. Total enumeration was applied to the eligible population across five schools divisions, and all 105 invited nurses returned completed questionnaires. Data were collected using a researcher-developed 60-item questionnaire adapted and contextualized from Candelario (2023), rated on a four-point scale. Five experts reviewed the instrument; reported content-validity indices were 1.00, and pilot-test Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were .968 overall, .902 for professional development needs, .981 for workplace provisions, and .973 for job satisfaction. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, independent-samples t-tests, and one-way ANOVA were used. Results: Personal and professional development had the highest professional development need score (M = 3.34, SD = 0.60), followed by safe and quality nursing care (M = 3.30, SD = 0.67), leadership and management (M = 3.24, SD = 0.60), and research (M = 3.09, SD = 0.66). Workplace provisions were rated adequate, with research provisions lowest (M = 2.71, SD = 0.70). Job satisfaction was generally positive; work-life balance scored highest (M = 2.95, SD = 0.59), while job promotion scored lowest (M = 2.66, SD = 0.73). Several professional-development domains were positively associated with management/leadership and research provisions. None of the 12 tested correlations between professional development needs and job satisfaction was statistically significant. Professional development needs differed by sex and school assignment in the reported analyses. Conclusion: Findings support a locally responsive professional development and workplace-support plan, with priorities in resilience, safe care, emergency preparedness, research capacity, recognition, and transparent career information. Inferential results involving age and years of service require verification against the original statistical output before publication.