ABSTRACT
This study explored the level of hope, personal growth, meaning in life and work engagement among nurses. It also examined how marital status, age and duration of service can be associated with these variables. The study further investigated the relationship between hope, personal growth and meaning in life and work engagement. More specifically, this research explored how hope, personal growth, meaning in life predict work engagement among nurses. To achieve the above objectives, a set of questionnaires was administered to two group of nurses from two private hospitals in Malaysia, one in Pulau Pinang (n=35) and one in Melaka (n=220). The instruments used in this study were 1) Adult Hope Scale 2) Personal Growth Initiative Scale, 3) Meaning in Life Questionnaire and 4) Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. The total number of nurses participated in this study was 255. Participants reported relatively high level of hope, personal growth initiatives, meaning in life and work engagement. Moreover, hope, personal growth initiative, meaning in life and work engagement were significantly correlated. The findings indicated that nurses who were more hopeful and had higher levels of personal growth initiatives and meaning in life were more engaged at work. Hope and personal growth initiative had significant contributions in predicting work engagement. These findings can be used further to improve the engagement of nurses in different hospital settings and employees from other professions.
Keywords: Hope, Personal growth initiative, Meaning in life, Work engagement.