Health-related quality of life and working conditions among nursing providers

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate working conditions associated with health-related quality of life (HRQL) among nursing providers. METHODS:Cross-sectional study conducted in a university hospital in the city of São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, during 2004Brazil, during -2005. The study sample comprised 696 registered nurses, nurse technicians and nurse assistants, predominantly females (87.8%), who worked day and/or night shifts. Data on sociodemographic information, working and living conditions, lifestyles, and health symptoms were collected using self-administered questionnaires. The following questionnaires were also used: Job Stress Scale, Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) and Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). Ordinal logistic regression analysis using proportional odds model was performed to evaluate each dimension of the SF-36. RESULTS:Around 22% of the sample was found to be have high strain and 8% showed an effort-reward imbalance at work. The dimensions with the lowest mean scores in the SF-36 were vitality, bodily pain and mental health. High-strain job, effort-reward imbalance (ERI>1.01), and being a registered nurse were independently associated with low scores on the role emotional dimension. Those dimensions associated to mental health were the ones most affected by psychosocial factors at work. CONCLUSIONS:Effort-reward imbalance was more associated with health than high-strain (high demand and low control). The study results suggest that the joint analysis of psychosocial factors at work such as effort-reward imbalance and demand-control can provide more insight to the discussion of professional roles, working conditions and HRQL of nursing providers. Psychosocial and work organization factors have been special objects of interest of study and interventions in the light of the precarious and unstable relationship between work and production, 19 the nature of illnesses among workers, and a growing concern with people's well-being and quality of life.Psychosocial factors at work are associated to the interaction between environment and working conditions, job duties and individual worker characteristics taking into account all their features and demands, including those outside the work environment. Workers' health and work performance are affected by these interactions and their experience. 11 Studies with populations of workers have suggested that psychosocial stressors such as high psychological strain, lack of control and social support, high effort and reward at work and overcommitment can be associated RESUMO OBJETIVO: Avaliar condições de trabalho associadas à qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde entre profi ssionais de enfermagem. MÉTODOS:Estudo transversal realizado em um hospital universitário de São Paulo, SP, em 2004SP, em -2005. A população estudada foi de 696 enfermeiros, técnicos e auxiliares de enfermagem, predominantemente feminina (87,8%) e que trabalhava em turnos diurnos e/ou noturnos. Os dados sociodemográfi cos, de condições de trabalho e de vida...

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