Relationship between Quality of Nursing Work Life and Uniformed Nurses' Attitudes and Practices Related to COVID-19 in the Philippines: A Cross-Sectional Study

The association between workload and quality of work life of nurses taking care of patients with COVID-19

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 epidemic has brought significant changes and complexities to nurses' working conditions. Given the crucial role of health workers, particularly nurses, in providing healthcare services, it is essential to determine the nurses' workload, and its association with the quality of work life (QWL) during COVID-19 epidemic, and to explain the factors predicting their QWL.

METHODS

A total of 250 nurses, who provided care for patients with COVID-19 in Imam Hossein Hospital of Shahrud, and met the inclusion criteria, were considered the samples in the present cross-sectional study in 2021-2022. Data were collected using the demographic questionnaire, NASA Task Load Index (TLX), and Walton's QWL questionnaire, which were analyzed using SPSS26 and based on descriptive and inferential statistical tests. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant for all cases.

RESULTS

The nurses' mean scores of workload and QWL were 71.43 ± 14.15 and 88.26 ± 19.5, respectively. Pearson's correlation test indicated a significant inverse relationship between workload and QWL (r=-0.308, p < 0.001). The subscales with the highest perceived workload scores were physical demand and mental demand (14.82 ± 8.27; 14.36 ± 7.43), respectively, and the subscale with the lowest workload was overall performance (6.63 ± 6.31). The subscales with the highest scores for QWL were safety and health in working conditions and opportunity to use and develop human capabilities (15.46 ± 4.11; 14.52 ± 3.84), respectively. The subscales with the lowest scores were adequate and fair compensation, work and total living space (7.46 ± 2.38; 6.52 ± 2.47), respectively. The number of children (β = 4.61, p = 0.004), work experience (β= -0.54, p = 0.019), effort (β = 0.37, p = 0.033) and total workload (β= -0.44, p = 0.000) explained 13% of the variance of nurses' QWL.

CONCLUSIONS

The study's findings showed that a higher workload score is associated with nurses' lower perception of QWL. In order to improve the QWL of nurses, reducing the physical and mental demands of their workload and strengthening overall performance is necessary. Additionally, when promoting QWL, adequate and fair compensation and the work and living space should be considered. The researchers suggest that hospital managers should make more significant efforts to develop and promote the QWL of nurses. To achieve this goal, organizations can pay attention to other influential factors, primarily by increasing organizational support.

Psychosocial Burden and Quality of Life of Surveyed Nurses during the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic

This study analyzes the impact of occupational burnout on the quality of life (QOL) of nurses surveyed during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A total of 668 active nurses employed in public hospitals in Podkarpackie voivodeship (Poland) were surveyed. Throughout the pandemic, all wards where responders worked had a division into so-called "clean" and "dirty" zones, as well as balanced working hours. The research used the authors' survey questionnaire Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the Polish version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument Short Form (WHOQOL-BREF). Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of the collected material, while correlations between ordinal or quantitative variables were made using Spearman's-rho coefficient. According to 94.0% of respondents, stress is an integral part of the nursing profession. The mean of the respondents' MBI burnout was 50.83 +/- 9.05 pts. The respondents' overall quality of life also averaged 65.74 +/- 13.12 pts. There were negative statistically significant correlations between the MBI and BREF domains, most of which were characterized by clear strengths of association. Higher exhaustion in various occupational aspects is associated with poorer quality of life in individual domains.

Bibliometric and systemic analysis of the relationship between quality of work life and productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it changes in the way of working and the well-being of workers.

OBJECTIVE

To identify research trends on work life quality and its impact on productivity in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHOD

The Proknow-C constructivist methodology was used, with which a bibliographic portfolio of 49 articles obtained from the Web of Science was prepared, resulting from four stages of search between 2012 and 2022; a bibliometric analysis was performed on that database and bibliometric networks were created with the software VOSviewer; the systemic analysis of the articles was carried out, thus showing theories, definitions and indicators; and areas of opportunity of research were identified.

RESULTS

The most important high-impact specialized journals and authors, articles considered central, most used keywords such as job satisfaction, quality of work life and COVID-19, as well as the most representative countries such as European and Asian, are presented.

CONCLUSION

It was found that the health sector is one of the most studied, allowing researchers from other sectors the opportunity to delve into the issue of the affectations of the quality of work life reflected in productivity and common variables were synthesized such as job satisfaction, well-being, motivation and security, among others.

Relationships between self-efficacy, coping-style and quality of work-life among nursing managers in China: A cross-sectional study

AIM

To investigate the quality of work-life among nursing managers in China and analyze the relationships between self-efficacy, coping-style, and quality of work-life.

BACKGROUND

Self-efficacy, coping-style, and quality of work-life play significant roles in the stability of nursing teams, the quality of clinical care, and patient safety. Although some factors influencing quality of work-life have been identified, there is no large-scale study of the relationships among self-efficacy, coping-style, and quality of work-life of nursing managers. Strategies to strengthen the quality of work-life of nursing managers should be developed by exploring the relationships between the three variables.

METHODS

A nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 1498 nursing managers from 51 tertiary general hospitals in 20 provinces in China were selected for the study using multistage stratified proportional sampling. Registered full-time nursing managers with more than one year of management experience were eligible for the study. The participants completed online questionnaires to assess their self-efficacy, coping-style, and work-related quality of life. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, Pearson's correlation, hierarchical multiple linear regression, and structural equation modelling to verify the relationships between variables.

RESULTS

The quality of work-life score for the nursing managers surveyed was 3.74 ± 0.56 out of a possible five. Self-efficacy was positively correlated with quality of work-life (β = 0.484, P < 0.01) over all demographic variables. Positive coping was also positively associated with quality of work-life (β = 0.404, P < 0.01). Self-efficacy and positive coping explained 22.7% and 14.2% of the variance in the quality of work-life, respectively. Structural equation modelling indicated that self-efficacy positively and directly predicted the quality of work-life (β = 0.395, P < 0.001), and indirectly affected quality of work-life via positive coping (β = 0.186, P < 0.001), but not via negative coping (β = 0.005, P > 0.05). The final model could explain 44% of the variance in the quality of work-life.

CONCLUSION

Self-efficacy was positively correlated with quality of work-life among Chinese nursing managers, and positive coping partially mediated this relationship. The results suggest that self-efficacy and positive coping are pivotal facilitators for improving the quality of work-life and need to be taken into account in measures to improve the quality of work-life of nursing managers.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Hospital administrators should recognize the importance of nursing managers' work-life quality to promote both the stability of nursing teams and the quality of clinical care and safety provided. They should help nursing managers foster self-efficacy and active coping abilities through incentive measures and provide positive coping training courses to enhance their quality of work-life.