Aim: This paper is a report of a study of the moderating effect of caring orientation on the relationship of patient-centred care to nurses' physical and mental health.
Background: Providing effective patient-centred care is well-accepted as an important contributor to a host of patients' health outcomes. Based on two theoretical perspectives - person-environment fit and emotional labour - I suggest that providing patient-centred care per se does not potentially harm nurses' health; the cause is the fit (or non-fit) of a nurse's caring orientation and the displayed patient-centred care behaviours.
Method: Data were collected in 2007 with a random sample of 325 registered nurses working in the Israeli public healthcare sector in in-patient units. Caring orientation, health and control variables were measured via validated questionnaires. Patient-centred care behaviours were assessed by structured observations.
Results: The mental health of nurses who exhibited high caring orientation combined with high patient-centred care, or that of nurses who exhibited low caring orientation combined with low patient-centred care, was statistically significantly higher in comparison with the mental health of nurses who exhibited incongruent (low/high or high/low) caring orientation and patient-centred care behaviours. For nurses' physical health, the findings revealed that providing patient-centred care was associated with worsened health, and possessing a caring orientation was associated with better health.
Conclusions: The findings support the hypotheses that were derived from person-environment fit and emotional labour only with regard to mental health. Separate theory needs to be developed on how to maintain nurses' physical health.