Job satisfaction and social support perceived by the Nursing staff of the Pilar Regional Hospital, Paraguay

Abstract

Introduction: Nursing staff at the Hospital Regional de Pilar are on the front lines of care, making their psychosocial well-being and immediate work experience strategically important for the quality and safety of care.

Objective: to analyze the relationship between perceived social support and job satisfaction among nursing staff at the Pilar Regional Hospital, Ñeembucú, Paraguay.

Method: a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional, and correlational study was conducted during 2024–2025. From the sampling frame (N=177), a probabilistic sample (n=108) was selected by simple random sampling without replacement. Standardized instruments were applied (social support, 12 items; G Clinic abbreviated satisfaction, 10 items) with adequate to very good reliability in the final sample (α support=0.843; α satisfaction=0.878; α group=0.871). Given the non-normality of most variables (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test), non-parametric tests were used: Spearman's rank correlation coefficient for associations and Mann-Whitney U/Kruskal-Wallis test for comparisons, with Benjamini-Hochberg (FDR) adjustment for each family; the median test was used only as a complement.

Results: a statistically significant, low-magnitude positive association was found between support and job satisfaction (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient ρ=0.240; p=0.012; Kendall's sensitivity analysis τ_b=0.211; p=0.012). No differences were observed by gender or type of employment contract. An unconfirmed effect on social support was observed for marital status.

Conclusions: overall, greater social support is associated with greater job satisfaction (small effect), with no evidence that sociodemographic variables modify this association globally.