Participants

The participants included female and male nurses working in 13 adult ICUs in the Warmia and Mazury region of Poland. According to a list provided by the Voivodeship Office in Olsztyn [31], 19 ICUs were in this region of Poland at the time of the study. Consent to participate in the study was obtained from 13 hospitals (68.4% of all ICUs in the region). Three withheld permission from the remaining six hospitals, and the other three were not invited to participate due to organizational problems. Pediatric ICUs and neonatal ICUs were excluded. In total, 396 nurses were working in the adult ICUs in the region. The sample size was determined using an arithmetic mean estimation of the PRINCE questionnaire. The study’s inclusion criteria for nurses were employment at an adult ICU for at least six months as a nurse, providing direct patient care at a public or non-public hospital, and providing informed consent for participating in the study. Exclusion criteria included being employed as an anesthesia and intensive care nurse at a hospital unit other than the adult ICU, performing functions other than direct patient care at an ICU (e.g. head nurse, nursing coordinator), and not providing informed consent for participation in the study.