Mediator effects of cognitive load on the relationship between task complexity and guideline adherence among clinical nurses: a cross-sectional survey of nurses in China.
Background: Suboptimal adherence to guidelines is a common phenomenon in clinical settings. Studies regarding the complexity of tasks, cognitive load, and adherence to guidelines among clinical nurses are noteworthy, but limited. Purpose: To investigate whether cognitive load mediates the associatio...
| Published in: | Journal of Research in Nursing Vol. 30; no. 5/6; pp. 479 - 491 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Sage Publications Inc.
Sep2025
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=188443761&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 188443761 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 17449871 1FV0 jtl: Journal of Research in Nursing issn: 17449871 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Sep2025 vid: 30 iid: 5/6 pid: 344 pub: Sage Publications Inc. place: Thousand Oaks, California artinfo: ui: 188443761 187177651 188443761 188443761 10.1177/17449871251329197 188443761 ppf: 479 ppct: 12 formats: tig: atl: Mediator effects of cognitive load on the relationship between task complexity and guideline adherence among clinical nurses: a cross-sectional survey of nurses in China. aug: au: Zhang, Shan Liu, Lu Ding, Shu Peng, Tingting Wang, Jun Wu, Ying affil: Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China sug: subj: Cognition Task Performance and Analysis Evaluation Guideline Adherence Evaluation Nursing Staff, Hospital Psychosocial Factors Human Funding Source China Male Female Cross Sectional Studies Questionnaires Convenience Sample Tertiary Health Care Surveys Adult Middle Age Coefficient alpha Data Analysis Software Descriptive Statistics Pearson's Correlation Coefficient Multiple Linear Regression Structural Equation Modeling Mediation Analysis Job Experience Scales Professional Practice Sociodemographic Factors Self Report Adult: 19-44 years Middle Aged: 45-64 years Male Female ab: Background: Suboptimal adherence to guidelines is a common phenomenon in clinical settings. Studies regarding the complexity of tasks, cognitive load, and adherence to guidelines among clinical nurses are noteworthy, but limited. Purpose: To investigate whether cognitive load mediates the association between task complexity and guideline adherence in clinical nurses. Methods: In total, 580 clinical nurses from 8 tertiary hospitals were included in the cross-sectional survey. A self-reported survey included guideline adherence, task complexity, and cognitive load. We conducted correlation and multiple linear regression analysis and performed a mediation effect analysis using PROCESS with 5000 resamples. Results: The linear regression showed that task complexity significantly predicted intrinsic cognitive load (a1 = 0.322, p < 0.001), intrinsic cognitive load significantly predicted guideline adherence (b1 = −0.113, p < 0.001), and task complexity had a direct impact on guideline adherence (c ′ = 0.126, p < 0.001). Both intrinsic cognitive load (effect size = −0.037, 95%CI: −0.061, −0.019) and germane cognitive load (effect size = 0.180, 95%CI: −0.269, −0.171) played a partial mediating effect between task complexity and guideline adherence among nurses, contributing to 53.16% of the overall effect. Conclusions/Implications for practice: Nursing administrators should prioritise the cognitive load for clinical nurses when allocating intricate assignments. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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