The mediating effect of patient safety culture on the relationship between professionalism, self-leadership, and compliance with infection prevention activity against emerging respiratory infectious disease among nurses working in geriatric long-term care hospitals: A cross-sectional study

Purpose: This study investigates the mediating effect of patient safety culture on the relationship between professionalism, self-leadership, and compliance with infection prevention activity against emerging respiratory infectious diseases among nurses working in geriatric long-term care hospitals. Methods: In total, 136 nurses from eight geriatric long-term care hospitals were invited to participate. For the statistical analyses, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient analyses were employed. The mediating effect was analyzed using the three-step mediation procedure of Baron and Kenny in hierarchical regression, and the significance of the mediating effect was tested using the Sobel test. Results: Patient safety culture had a full mediating effect on the relationship between professionalism and compliance with infection prevention activity (Z=3.14, p=.001) and a full mediating effect on the relationship between self-leadership and compliance with infection prevention activity (Z=3.37, p<.001). Conclusion: The study findings indicate that a higher patient safety culture within the organization further enhances compliance with infection prevention activity. Therefore, it is crucial to develop strategies to enhance nurses’ professionalism and self-leadership, as well as to improve organizational patient safety culture for the infection control in geriatric long-term care hospitals.