ReviewJournal of nursing management2026
Global Research on Nursing Work Environment and Structural Empowerment: Trends and Thematic Evolution in Leadership and Workforce Outcomes-A Bibliometric Analysis.
Review in Journal of nursing management, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNursing work environment (NWE) and structural empowerment (SE) are closely related to nurse well-being, retention, leadership, care quality, and patient safety. However, their intellectual structure, thematic evolution, and policy relevance remain insufficiently synthesized amid global nursing workforce shortages.
aimTo map global research on NWE and SE and clarify its links with leadership development and nursing workforce outcomes.
methodsA bibliometric analysis was conducted using English-language research articles retrieved from Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus. Publication trends, leading contributors, collaboration patterns, co-cited references, keyword clusters, thematic evolution, and emerging topics were examined.
resultsA total of 1470 publications from 2007 to 2026 were included. Annual output increased steadily, particularly after 2019. The United States, China, and Canada were leading contributors, and the University of Pennsylvania was the most productive institution. Influential scholarship connected practice environments, empowerment, leadership, burnout, retention, care quality, and patient safety. The field has shifted from describing adverse outcomes to explaining how organizational conditions and leadership support sustainable nursing workforces. DISCUSSION: The findings indicate a transition toward mechanism-oriented research explaining how SE and leadership connect organizational conditions with nurse well-being, retention, and care quality. This highlights the need to treat empowering practice environments as nursing management and health policy priorities.
conclusionResearch is moving toward understanding how empowering work environments and leadership practices sustain nurses and improve care. Stronger longitudinal and intervention evidence is needed. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT AND POLICY: Workforce policy should prioritize organizational reforms that create empowering practice environments, support leadership development, and sustain a stable nursing workforce alongside measures to increase nurse supply.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.