The Interplay of Perceived Organizational Support and Perceived Professional Benefits on Nurses’ Flourishing: A Network Analysis

AIM: Using network analysis to examine the relationships between nurses' perceived organizational support, perceived professional benefits, and flourishing. BACKGROUND: Nurses work in high-pressure and high-risk environments over the long term, making their mental health of paramount importance. Flourishing, as a more comprehensive and objective new indicator for assessing mental health, has not been fully explored in terms of its complex interactions with perceived organizational support and perceived professional benefits. METHODS: A total of 586 nurses were recruited for this study. An online survey was conducted using the Chinese versions of the Perceived Organizational Support Scale, Nurses' Perceived Professional Benefits Scale, and Flourishing Scale. Descriptive statistics for baseline participant characteristics were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics. Network analysis was performed using R, with network visualization achieved via the "qgraph" package. Network centrality indices were calculated via the "qgraph" and "networktools" packages. Additionally, network accuracy estimation and stability testing were conducted using the "bootnet" package. RESULTS: We estimated a cross-sectional network model specifying the interrelationships across the three targeted constructs, which yielded a network density of 0.562. "I am deeply interested in the tasks I undertake every day," "I feel good about myself and am satisfied with my current life state," and "Good nurse-patient relationship" are three nodes with relatively high connectivity within the network. Meanwhile, "Positive perception of career" exhibited the highest bridge strength. DISCUSSION: The flourishing level of Chinese nurses still has room for improvement, with centrally located nodes and bridge nodes holding prominent positions in their psychological flourishing network. CONCLUSIONS: The central and bridge nodes identified in this network may offer a pathway for future hypothesis-driven research. Longitudinal and intervention studies are warranted to examine whether these nodes represent modifiable factors that could strengthen nurses' flourishing. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY: Identifying central and bridge nodes within the network provides valuable insights for nursing administrators when designing subsequent exploratory intervention studies.