Abstract: Objective: To investigate the basic psychological needs among nurses during their career growth process and to further analyze its influencing factors. Methods: Multistage stratified cluster sampling was performed to recruit 858 participants from Sichuan province. The Basic Needs Satisfaction in General Scale, the Perceived Organizational Support Questionnaire, and a researcher-developed demographic questionnaire were used to collect data. Results: The mean total score on basic psychological needs satisfaction was 5.13±0.90, and the mean score on needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness were 4.79±0.99, 5.08±1.03, and 5.47±0.92, respectively. The multiple linear regression analysis result showed that regions and nurses' perceived organizational support were influencing factors of their basic psychological needs satisfaction, which could explain 49.4% of the total variation. Conclusion: Nursing managers should pay more attention to nurses' basic psychological needs satisfaction, especially the needs of autonomy. It is also necessary for managers to provide a supportive work environment to stimulate nurses' work motivation and promote their career growth.

Key words: career growth; basic psychological needs; influencing factor; nursing management; health workforce