Examination of Career Problems Related to Nurse Working Conditions

Background Working conditions play a crucial role in both the personal and professional development of nurses. Challenging work hours, shift schedules, heavy workloads, and organizational pressures can negatively affect nurses’ job satisfaction, motivation, and career advancement. However, studies examining the relationships between individual and organizational factors—such as nurses’ preferences for their work unit, working hours, work patterns, and willingness in unit selection—and career-related problems remain limited. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the career problems experienced by nurses in relation to their working conditions and to identify how these issues vary according to different workplace variables. The aim of this study was to examine the career-related problems associated with the working conditions of nurses. Method Data were collected via a Personal Information Form and Nursing Career Problems Scale . Statistical analyses were performed via SPSS 25.0 software. Categorical variables are summarized as frequencies and percentages, whereas continuous variables are summarized as the means, standard deviations, and minimum–maximum values. After the distribution of the data was checked, independent t -tests were used for comparisons between two groups, and ANOVA with the Tukey HSD post-hoc test was used for comparisons among more than two groups. A significance level of p <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Among the nurses who participated in the study, 77.3% were female, 52.8% were single, and 38.2% had 0–5 years of professional experience. In addition, 70% reported that they had willingly chosen their current unit, and 79% stated that they liked the unit in which they worked. The mean total score of the scale was 78.54 ± 23.07; the mean score for the stress and burnout subdimension was 39.27 ± 11.72; for the organizational pressure and professional mismatch subdimension, 17.39 ± 9.05; for the dual career problem subdimension, 8.84 ± 4.69; and for the gender-related career problems subdimension, it was 13.02 ± 6.29. All subdimensions, except for the total scale and the stress and burnout subdimension, were below the moderate level, whereas the stress and burnout subdimension was above the moderate level. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the scale in this study was 0.893. Conclusion This study examined the career problems experienced by nurses in relation to their working conditions and revealed that nurses encounter various career-related issues under different working circumstances. Nurses experiences of career problems varied depending on whether they had chosen their unit willingly, their level of satisfaction with their unit, their work pattern, their working hours, and whether they felt comfortable in the workplace. Clinical trial numbers not applicaple.