RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Increasing empowerment among nurses may help retain nurses and increase the international workforce. There are very few cross-national studies of nurse empowerment reported in the professional literature. AIM: To conduct a cross-national exploratory study testing a theoretical model of nurse empowerment. DESIGN: Descriptive survey of three convenience samples of graduate Latina nurses in Monterrey, Mexico, New York City and Indiana. METHODS: Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. The Klakovich Reciprocal Empowerment Scale (RES) was translated into Mexican-Spanish using a translation back-translation technique. Variables for the study included empowerment, years of experience, job satisfaction and intent to stay. Frequency distributions and descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. FINDINGS: Empowerment involves reciprocity between the leader and follower, a common vision and synergy about the work, and a sense of ownership in the work site. Mexican nurses scored significantly higher on synergy than Latina nurses in New York and Indiana. Empowerment is related to job satisfaction, age and years of employment. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate the usefulness of the RES instrument for Latina nurses and the need for further research with larger samples. Cross-national research provides culturally sensitive information. Such research partnerships facilitate modelling the importance of nursing research to graduate nurses and students.