Self-transcendence, caring and their associations with well-being.

Aims: To examine the relationship between nursing staffs' self-transcendence and well-being in long-term care facilities and to investigate the mediating role of caring behaviours in the aforementioned relationship.

Background: Factors associated with the well-being of healthcare providers influence the quality of care delivered. Although an increasing number of studies have shed light on the relationship between self-transcendence and subjective well-being, little is known of the mediating effect of caring behaviour in this relationship.

Design: The cross-sectional design applied in this study included a questionnaire survey of long-term care facilities.

Methods: Structural equation modelling with maximum likelihood estimation was used for empirical analysis of survey data obtained from 276 nurses and nurse-aids in 55 long-term care facilities. A bootstrapping method was used to analyse mediating effects.

Results: Tests of the measurement model and hypothesized model showed an adequate goodness of fit to the sample data. The results showed that nursing staffs' self-transcendence was related to their caring behaviours and well-being. Moreover, caring behaviours partially mediated the relationship between self-transcendence and well-being.

Conclusion: Our findings provide insight into the influence of self-transcendence and caring behaviours on the well-being of nursing staffs in long-term care settings. Further studies are needed to clarify the role of circumstances national wide.