Factors Influencing the Willingness of Clinical Nurses to Participate in Narrative Nursing: A Cross‐Sectional Study

AIMS: Narrative nursing (NN) is a crucial component of modern medical humanistic care. It involves utilising storytelling as a means to guide nurses in devising future interventions for patients, and help patients in reconstructing positive psychological defences. The willingness of clinical nurses to engage in narrative nursing holds significant implications for both effective communication and the overall quality of care. However, there is limited knowledge regarding clinical nurses' willingness to engage in narrative nursing. This study aims to investigate the participation willingness of Chinese nurses, identify its predictors and explore its corresponding reasons. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. METHODS: Clinical nurses were enrolled in Hunan province, Central South, China, and a convenience sampling strategy was used. A structured questionnaire was distributed to clinical nurses by an online survey platform. Information on sociodemographic characteristics, willingness and possible influencing factors (experience, ability, perceptions on narrative nursing) was collected. Binary logistic regression was conducted to identify the predictors of willingness to participate in narrative nursing. RESULTS: A total of 2310 nurses were recruited, of which 2092 nurses completed the questionnaire (response rate: 90.6%). One thousand seven hundred and thirty-four nurses (82.9%) were willing to participate in NN, and 358 (17.1%) were not. Binary logistic regression analysis identified nine predictors of participants' willingness to participate, including working departments, professional title, working position, experience of received mobilisation and training of NN, understanding of related knowledge, NCS level, affirmation of NN and positive attitude towards clinical application (all p values < 0.05). These indicators explained 17.1% of the variances in the dependent variable (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: A high proportion of nurses in Hunan province were willing to practice in clinic using NN. Willingness to participate may be increased by a focus on nurses with low professional titles, no administrative position and working in specialised departments, such as emergency departments, infectious departments, critical care units and operating theatres. IMPACT: The study identified a high proportion of nurses in Hunan Province who were willing to use NN. However, the figure was slightly lower than expected. Influencing factors were analysed to give insights for managers to develop more effective NN outreach programs. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.