Editorial summary. This is our text summary of an article published by Frontiers in Public Health. Charts, figures, and the author’s full voice are at the original — read it there .
Editorial verdict
Methodologically sound meta-analysis with confirmed publication bias — the core finding of a significant negative correlation between social support and nurse turnover intention is robust, but the moderate effect size and acknowledged publication bias require cautious interpretation.
Executive summary
This systematic review and meta-analysis examines the relationship between social support and turnover intention (TI) among clinical nurses, a workforce under increasing global pressure. The authors argue that social support — encompassing supervisor support and colleague support — serves as a significant protective factor against nurse TI, consistent with the buffering model of social support. Drawing on 38 cross-sectional studies involving 63,989 clinical nurses, sourced from seven international databases up to January 2024, the analysis found a statistically significant medium negative correlation between overall social support and TI (r = −0.278). Supervisor support (r = −0.119) and colleague support (r = −0.100) also showed significant negative correlations with TI, though with smaller effect sizes. Moderator analyses revealed that sample size and TI measurement tools significantly influenced the strength of the correlation, while nurse department, gender, data collection time, and social support measurement tools did not. The authors conclude that enhancing perceived social support among nurses may contribute to reducing turnover rates, though the exclusive reliance on cross-sectional studies precludes causal inference.
Key insights
- 1A statistically significant medium negative correlation exists between overall social support and nurse turnover intention (r = −0.278), based on 38 studies and 63,989 clinical nurses, with the relationship holding after trim-and-fill correction for publication bias (adjusted r = −0.195).
- 2Both supervisor support (r = −0.119) and colleague support (r = −0.100) are significantly negatively correlated with nurse TI, though effect sizes are small, suggesting social support type and source matter in understanding retention dynamics.
- 3Sample size and TI measurement tool selection significantly moderate the social support–TI correlation: studies with smaller samples (≤1,000) reported stronger correlations (r = −0.299) than larger-sample studies (r = −0.213), consistent with known publication bias patterns; TI measurement tool type produced the largest between-group variance in effect sizes.
Practical takeaways
- Organizational practices that strengthen supervisor-subordinate relationships and foster collegial teamwork among nurses are associated with lower observed turnover intention in the included studies, as both supervisor and colleague support dimensions demonstrated significant negative correlations with TI.
- The choice of TI measurement instrument introduces meaningful variation in observed effect sizes, with the three-item 1977 questionnaire yielding the smallest correlation (r = −0.150) and other tools yielding notably larger correlations (r = −0.329), indicating that instrument selection in nurse retention research warrants careful consideration for comparability.
Frameworks mentioned
Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory
A theoretical framework cited to explain how social support from supervisors provides tangible and intangible resources that alleviate turnover tendencies caused by job demands.
PRISMA
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses — the methodological reporting guideline followed in designing and writing this study.
References
- van der Heijden et al. (2010).The impact of social support upon intention to leave among female nurses in Europe: secondary analysis of data from the NEXT survey.
- Gignac and Szodorai (2016).Effect size guidelines for individual differences researchers.
- PRISMA (2009).Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement.
- Not specified (2022).The impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on nurses' turnover intention: an integrative review.
- Cohen and Wills (1985).Stress and depression: a test of the buffering model of social support.
Source & Provenance
Frontiers in Public Health
Not specified
Not specified
Meta-Analysis/Review
Global
Original source metadata is preserved. AI analysis is generated separately.
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