Abstract:
Background: Employee morale is a critical factor in any organization either be
locally and or globally and Botswana is no exception. Mental health nurses have
been considered professionals that assist people to regain a sense of coherence
over what is occurring to them - be it a result of trauma or some other form of mental
distress. Good morale among staff on inpatient psychiatric wards is an important
requirement for the maintenance of strong therapeutic alliances and positive patient
experiences, and for the successful implementation of initiatives to improve service
delivery. The aim of the study was to determine the factors influencing nursing staff
morale at S’brana Psychiatric Hospital (SPH) in Botswana. Methods: A quantitative,
cross sectional study was conducted on 147 respondents. Self-administered
questionnaire was used for data collection and it was closed ended. Data was
collected at S’brana Psychiatric Hospital (SPH) and stratified random sampling
technique was used to select nurses according to their categories. Data were
analyzed through SPSS Software v21.0. Results: The results revealed that the
majority of the nurses were aged between 26 - 30 years and most of them were
females compared to males. It is evident from the results that, there was strong
association between number of years and nursing position (χ2(15) = 72.34, p = .000).
Also, there was positive correlation between respondents highest qualification in
nursing and training received to do the job well (r = .312, n = 147 and p = .000.).
Multiple regression analysis showed a statistically significant, F(3, 143) = 46.69, p =
.000, and accounted for 70.3% of the variance. Conclusion: This study has
revealed that nurses’ morale in SPH can be affected by a number of factors
irrespective of their age, work experience, nursing position and ward they work in.
The consequences of low staff morale are detrimental to health professionals
(nurses) and patients, therefore, it is important for healthcare managers to address
the shortcomings in order to counteract the negative effects of low staff morale
