Leisure crafting and work engagement among Chinese ICU nurses: The multiple mediation effect of recovery experience and humanistic care ability

AIMS: Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study explored the intermediary role of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses' recovery experience and humanistic care ability between leisure crafting and work engagement. BACKGROUND: As the ICU is an important life-saving department, the level of work engagement of nurses directly affect the quality of life and health outcomes of patients. Actively seeking countermeasures to improve the work engagement level of ICU nurses is of great significance to enhancing the nursing quality of the ICU. According to the theory of resource conservation, the resources owned by individuals are limited and must be replenished promptly and effectively to maintain relatively stable physical, mental, and working states. Therefore, determining ways for ICU nurses to supplement the consumed resources effectively and efficiently in a limited time to maintain a high level of work engagement is the main concern of this study. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study from January 2023 to March 2023, 478 ICU nurses were recruited by convenience sampling. The survey tools included the Leisure Crafting Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9, the Caring Ability Inventory, and the Recovery Experience Questionnaire. Descriptive data and Pearson correlation coefficients were analyzed via SPSS 26.0 (IBM Corp.). PROCESS v4.0 (by Andrew F. Hayes) Macro Model 6 was applied to analyze the serial multiple mediator models. We used the STROBE checklist to report the results. RESULTS: First, the results showed that leisure crafting, humanistic care ability, and recovery experience were positively correlated with work engagement. Second, recovery experience and humanistic care ability played a partially mediating role between leisure crafting and work engagement, respectively. Third, recovery experience and humanistic care ability also had a serial mediation effect between leisure crafting and work engagement. CONCLUSION: The findings of the study indicated that improving nurses' active control of leisure time may have particularly positive effects on ICU nurses' work engagement through increasing recovery experience and humanistic care ability. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND NURSING POLICY: Administrators can formulate intervention measures to improve the leisure crafting level of ICU nurses, promote work-life balance, which enhances recovery and supports engagement with patient-focused humanistic care, and have a positive impact on the work engagement of ICU nurses.