Relationship between work–family conflict, sleep quality, and depressive symptoms among mental health nurses

Abstract

Background Nursing has a reputation for being one of the most stressful occupations. As a result of their work, many nurses suffer from anxiety and depression. Nurses are also at risk of poor sleep owing to their work nature. This study aimed to examine the relationship between work–family conflict, sleep quality, and depressive symptoms among mental health nurses. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was utilized in this study. Setting/sample: This study was conducted at El Azazi Hospital for Mental Health, Al-Sharkia Governorate on 139 mental health nurses. Four tools were used in this study: Socio-demographic data sheet, Work–Family Conflict Scale, Arabic Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and Arabic Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Results Results revealed that, a significant percentage of mental health nurses suffered from poor sleep quality and depressive symptoms, there were highly statistically significantly positive correlations between work–family conflict (WFC) and both of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and depressive symptoms among nurses. Conclusions Working with psychiatric patients affected their nurses, which disturbed their sleep quality and led to depressive symptoms. As well, increasing work–family conflict in mental health nurses leads to poor sleep quality and depressive symptoms. Family interference with work, sleep quality, and work interference with family were statistically significant predictors of depressive symptoms.

Factors associated with clinical nurse’s mental health: a qualitative study applying the social ecological model

“…Consistent with the findings of previous research [ 31 – 35 ], our study found that nurses experience more work-to-family conflict than family-to-work conflict, leading to a feeling of stress and guilt. This may be because work and family life are mutually incompatible to some extent.…”

Work–Family Conflict and Depression Among Healthcare Workers: The Role of Sleep and Decision Latitude

“…Not surprisingly, we found that workers with greater family demands (child and dependent care) and greater work demands (physical, psychosocial, temporal) had higher work–family conflict. Work–family conflict was positively associated with depression, as previously reported in studies of hospital nurses (Mohamed et al, 2022; Zhang, Duffy, & De Castillero, 2017) and in other occupational groups within the healthcare sector (Guille et al, 2017; Hao et al, 2015).…”

Sleep‐related problems as a mediator in the association between depression and work–family conflict in middle‐aged female workers: A population‐based study

“…The above previous studies on the relationship between depression, sleep problems, and WFCs have frequently been conducted on nurses with high work stress or irregular working hours (Ding et al, 2020;Hwang & Yu, 2021;Mohamed et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2017;Zurlo et al, 2020) The highlight of our study is that we were able to identify sleep problems as a mediator in the relationship between WFCs and depression in middle-aged females using data representing the Korean working environment. The Korean female labour force participation rate is closely related to a female's life cycle.…”

“…Although previous studies have evaluated the effects of WFCs on general workers (du Prel & Peter, 2015) and special occupational groups with high work stress such as nurses and truck drivers (Ding et al, 2020;Mohamed et al, 2022;Shin & Jeong, 2020;Zhang et al, 2017)…”