For many years, nursing has been facing incessant nurse turnover at an increasing rate. Two variables which have the potential to contribute to nurse attrition, but have received less inquiry attention are nurse mood and nurse comfort. Nursing job can be very stressful, especially when the work setting is in the hospital in-patient units. Little is known about how new nurses' mood and comfort impact their decision to stay or leave their hospital inpatient jobs. The objective of this study was to identify the relationships that exist between newly licensed nurses' (a) comfort and intention to stay and (b) mood and intention to stay at their hospital, in-patient unit jobs.

A non-experimental study that involved the use of a survey was completed using non-probability convenient sampling (N= 100) and two instruments called Nurse Comfort Questionnaire (Appendix A) and the Profile of Mood States 2 (Appendix A). Intention to stay was measured using: 1. I intend to stay here; and 2. Do you intend to stay at current job for longer than 2 years?"

Statistics included descriptive, chi square, t test, correlation, and regression. Results showed that 63.5% (N = 61) stated "yes" to the question, "Do you intend to stay at the current job for longer than two years," while 36.5% (N = 35) stated "no." For the statement of "I intend to stay here," from a sample of ( N = 96), 64.6% (N = 62) selected "somewhat agree," "agree," or "strongly agree." The subjects who had no opinion were 7.3% ( N = 7), and 28% (N = 27) selected somewhat disagree, disagree, or strongly disagree. Overall, the nurses' comfort level mean score was low at 70.7% (N = 96), while the mood level mean score was slightly better at 75% (N = 91). Both comfort and mood were significantly associated with intention to stay. Significant variables from the regression analysis included "lively", "deceived," "I am content," "Most of my work is true nursing work," "My body aches from my work," "I feel like I belong here," and "My schedule fits my lifestyle.

Keywords: Intention to stay, nurse comfort, nurse mood, new nurses