The chain-mediating effects of career adaptability and self-care on the relationship between nursing work environment and work engagement in oncology nurses: A multicenter cross-sectional study

Background: The nursing work environment (NWE) is positively associated with work engagement; however, the precise mechanism underlying this relationship in oncology nurses remains unclear.Purpose: This study aims to investigate the relationship between the NWE and work engagement among oncology nurses, with particular attention to the mediating roles of career adaptability and self-care by developing a structural equation modeling.Methods: A confirmatory cross-sectional survey was conducted at three hospitals in China.Discussion: Structural equation modeling showed that work engagement was most strongly associated with self-care ( = 0.595), followed by career adaptability ( = 0.527) and NWE ( = 0.497).The mediation analysis indicated that 52.2% of the variance in work engagement was accounted for by the combined effects of NWE, career adaptability, and self-care.These findings suggest that career adaptability and self-care play important mediating roles in the relationship between NWE and work engagement among oncology nurses.Conclusion: Career adaptability and self-care mediated the relationship between NWE and work engagement.Future research should emphasize improving the NWE, career adaptability, self-care, and work engagement among oncology nurses to inform the development of effective intervention strategies.