The high prevalence of burnout among nurses around the globe is aggravating the nursing shortage crisis and posing a threat to patient care and safety. In order to prevent burnout, limit turnover, and thus enhance nurse retention and high-quality care, it is important to provide interventions that support nurses in coping with the high demands of their job.

In this longitudinal randomized-controlled intervention study, we aim to test the effectiveness of individual coaching to enhance nurses’ well-being, job satisfaction, intentions to remain in the nursing profession, and interaction quality (i.e., relational coordination) with fellow nurses. We propose that relational coordination improves as a consequence of increased prosocial and proactive work behaviors.

This study advances science on coaching and is highly relevant for practice. It will extend current knowledge on the effectiveness of coaching for individuals by examining team-level consequences of individual coaching and it will provide initial evidence for the effects of coaching in nurses.