Generating Gratitude in the Workplace to Improve Faculty Job Satisfaction

Background: The current nursing shortage affects all settings. In an effort to promote retention of nursing faculty, an "attitude of gratitude" was cultivated to improve job satisfaction and increase collaboration in one school of nursing. Method: This was a quantitative study using a convenience sample of faculty at one school of nursing. A presurvey of faculty on perceived gratitude levels and job satisfaction was administered prior to the start of the school year. Multiple gratitude interventions were implemented throughout the year and a postsurvey was administered to measure the effectiveness of interventions. Results: The findings of this study show an improvement of 17.9% in overall job satisfaction, which is consistent with other studies on the topic. Collaboration was not affected by gratitude interventions. Conclusion: Implementing gratitude is a cost-effective and easy way to improve job satisfaction to increase faculty retention rates.