The Impact of Client Variability on Nurses' Occupational Strain and Injury: Cross-Level Moderation by Safety Climate

Drawing on job demands and control theory, we propose a model demonstrating how client variability and safety climate influence occupational well-being in the nursing service environment. We surveyed 194 registered nurses regarding client variability, safety climate, and occupational strain in two large hospitals and obtained injury data for the six months after primary data collection. We found that unit-level safety climate moderated the partially mediated relationship between client variability and injury through occupational strain. Specifically, a stronger safety climate attenuated positive associations between client variability and occupational strain, occupational strain and injury, and client variability and injury.