The relationship between the practice environment and safety behaviour among nurses working in geriatric wards: The mediating role of occupational coping self-efficacy

Background Nurses' safety behaviour is a key factor in efforts to ensure patient safety and enhance the quality of care, especially in geriatric wards. Although the nursing practice environment is known to influence nurses' safety behaviour, the mechanisms underlying this influence remain unclear. This study investigated the mediating role played by occupational coping self-efficacy in the relationship between the practice environment and safety behaviour among nurses working in geriatric wards, thus providing new strategies that can be used to optimize safety behaviour. Methods This study featured a cross-sectional design in accordance with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines. Data were collected from 1099 nurses who were recruited from selected geriatric wards in Grade 3A hospitals in Anhui Province; these nurses completed the validated Nurse Practice Environment Assessment Scale, Safety Behaviour Scale, and Occupational Coping Self-Efficacy Scale. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlations, and a mediating effects analysis were employed to analyse the data with the assistance of SPSS software (version 24). Results The participants’ total scores on the Safety Behaviour Scale, Practice Environment Assessment Scale, and Occupational Coping Self-Efficacy Scale were 52.225 ± 8.360, 36.257 ± 7.103, and 77.778 ± 23.384, respectively, all of which represented moderate scores. Their total score on the Nurse Safety Behaviour Scale was positively correlated with their total scores on the Occupational Coping Self-Efficacy Scale and Practice Environment Assessment Scale ( r  = 0.678, 0.479, P  < 0.01), and their total score on the Nurse Practice Environment Assessment Scale was significantly positively correlated with their total score on the Nurse Occupational Coping Self-Efficacy Scale ( r  = 0.492, P  < 0.01). Nurses’ occupational coping self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between the practice environment and nurses’ safety behaviours, as indicated by a mediating effect of 0.102, which accounted for 59.65% of the total effect. Conclusion Nurses' occupational coping self-efficacy mediates the relationship between the practice environment and nurses’ safety behaviour. Nursing managers should focus on the task of cultivating nurses' occupational coping self-efficacy with the aim of optimizing the work environment of clinical nurses, thereby improving those nurses’ safety behaviours and ensuring patient safety. Clinical trial number Not applicable.