The Relationship between Mental Health and the Quality of Life of Polish Nurses with Many Years of Experience in the Profession: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: In their professional work, nurses struggle repeatedly with difficult situations that are causes of stress. Another issue is the low prestige of the nursing profession compared with other professions, which results in dissatisfaction, increased frustration, and lack of precision when performing professional tasks. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between mental health and quality of life and satisfaction with life in nurses with many years of experience in the profession. Methods: The study was conducted in a group of 523 randomly selected professionally active nurses aged over 40 years old from the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Standardized questionnaires were used, including WHOQOL-BREF, a short version of a questionnaire assessing quality of life, the general health questionnaire (GHQ-28), and the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS). Results: The mental health component was found to be significantly affected by financial situation (p = 0.005). Among respondents describing their financial status as bad, the assessment of negative mental health symptoms was higher. The remaining studied variables—work experience, nature of work, place of residence, age, material status, having a partner, and having children—did not affect the respondents’ mental health status. The co-occurrence of chronic diseases affected (p = 0.008) the intensification of negative mental health symptoms such as somatic symptoms, anxiety, insomnia, and social dysfunction. The intensification of negative mental health symptoms was not connected with absence from work. Conclusions: The financial situation of the respondents significantly determined their quality of life as well as influencing mental health components. Nurses’ satisfaction with life was correlated with all studied domains of quality of life.

Job burnout and quality of working life among Chinese nurses: A cross‐sectional study

“…Abbasi et al (2017) found that nurses over 29 years old had a decreasing QoWL. Previous studies showed that self-reported forgetfulness, sleep disturbances, anxiety and fatigue rose with age (Abbasi et al, 2017;Chen et al, 2014;Lewko et al, 2019). It was also noted that level of physical and cognitive functions declined with age, which could influence nurses' work performance (Abbasi et al, 2017).…”

“…Burnout has been found to impact nurses' ability to deal with negative emotions, nurses' work performance and patient safety (Choi et al, 2018). Nursing care is a detailed work with great responsibility, and it requires nurses to have good physical and psychological states (Lewko, Misiak, & Sierżantowicz, 2019). Nurses with job burnout cannot invest enough energy in clinical work, identify health care error in time and provide safe and quality patient care, which might lead to adverse patient outcomes (Choi et al, 2018;See et al, 2018;Wu et al, 2016).…”

“…The possible explanation of the positive association between income and QoWL is that nurses use incomes to support their family, and if they receive higher incomes, they can take good care of their parents and children, and fulfil family members' needs, so as to enjoy a better QoWL (Akter et al, ). Moreover, a recent study has revealed that nurses with higher wages are less likely to suffer from anxiety, depression and social dysfunction, and have better mental state at work (Lewko et al, ). Therefore, improving nurses' incomes is necessary to improve their QoWL, work performance and help them manage their families.…”

Quality of life of Health care professionals in pandemic times

“…Changes in the social relationships and social support networks are usually related to this aspect of QOL (Helgeson, 2003;Wedgeworth et al, 2017;Zhang & Xiang, 2019) Altogether, those factors represent different aspects of biopsychosocial functioning, including the general health status, familiar and social relationships, as well satisfaction with life and work practice, which are the main predictors of QOL (Rapala et al, 2005). Nonetheless other factors such as the presence of chronic disease and mental disorders may also affect QOL (Lewko et al, 2019).…”

Psychosocial Work-Related Hazards and Their Relationship to the Quality of Life of Nurses—A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The nurses' financial situation significantly determined quality of life as well as mental health components, and a higher assessment of negative mental health symptoms pertained to nurses in worse financial situations [22].…”