Dear Editor-in-Chief
Quality of work life (QWL) refers to how staff think about their profession, to what extents they are satisfied, and how they consider their job comparable with their goals (1, 2). It is commonly believed that improvement of the QWL is vital for attracting and keeping the staff (3). Quality of work life for nurses is not an exception; however, low quality of their work life has been confirmed by many studies. A study in Bangladesh showed low QWL for 54% of nurses (4). Additionally, 74% of the nurses in the hospitals affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran, were not satisfied with their job (5). As far as nursing is concerned, the main body of literature have focused on nurses not nursing managers. Thus, there is little information about nursing managers’ QWL. Therefore, we invited all top and middle nursing managers (71 matrons and supervisors) working in hospitals affiliated with Social Security Organization in Tehran, Iran to participate in a cross-sectional study (May to June 2012). We developed a valid (based on literature and expert review) and reliable (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.94) questionnaire comprised of 31 questions (in eight aspects of QWL) based on literature review (1–3, 5). The participants were asked to answer the questions based on a 5-point Likert scale (from very low =1 to very high = 5). The response rate was 70.4% (50 managers from 11 hospitals).
Mean of age, work experience years, and management experience years of the participants were 41.7 ± 4.1, 17.6 ± 3.6, and 8.5 ± 4.3 years, respectively. Furthermore, 62% were female and 58% were older than 40 years old. As listed in Table 1, financial facilities were perceived at moderate level (score: 5 ±1.26 out of 10).
Table 1.
Attitudes of nurse managers about their QWL
| Dimensions of QWL | Mean (SD) | Possible score |
|---|---|---|
| Financial facilities | 5.0 (1.26) | 10 |
| Educational facilities | 11.0 (2.1) | 20 |
| Managerial factors | 14.5 (4.5) | 25 |
| Participation in decision making | 11.6 (3.9) | 20 |
| Job design | 18.5 (4.9) | 30 |
| Communication and team working | 17.2 (3.2) | 25 |
| Work environment | 10.2 (1.5) | 15 |
| Job satisfaction | 6.8 (1.5) | 10 |
| Total score | 93.4 (19.4) | 155 |
Other seven aspects of the QWL were evaluated as relatively good (55% to 68.8% of the total point). Total score of the eight aspects was 93.4 ± 19.4 (60.2%; out of 155 scores), which resembles relatively good QWL. We found no significant relations with none of the eight aspects of QWL and total score as well with gender, age group, work experience years, management experience years, field of study, size and specialty of the hospitals. Managers with a master degree viewed poorer job design (P = 0.043). Moreover, comparing with matrons, the supervisors evaluated job design poorer (17.7 ± 4.7 compared with 23 ± 3.8; P = 0.008). Also, supervisors were perceived financial facilities poorer (4.9 ± 1.3 compared with 5.7 ± 0.4; P = 0.007). The relation between level of participation and educational degree (P < 0.001) as well as organizational position (P = 0.005) showed that managers with non-nursing education (8.5 ± 0.6 compared with 11.9 ± 3.9) and the supervisors (comparing with the matrons) evaluated lower level of participation (15.3 ± 1.9 compared with 10.9 ± 3.8). Furthermore, managers with non-nursing degrees evaluated work environment poorer (8.5 ± 1.3 compared with 10.3 ± 1.5; P = 0.019).
In general, nursing managers perceived a relatively good QWL so that only 18% evaluated their QWL as moderate and below. These findings are inconsistent with other works (1, 2, 5), because majority of the other studies have focused on nurses’ work life (not necessarily the nursing managers). Dargahi et al. showed, for instance, that 74% of Iranian nurses were dissatisfied with their job (5). Khani reported this figure 63% (1). Therefore, we concluded that the QWL of nursing managers is higher than nurses. This is consisted with study of Dargahi et al. (12).
In conclusion, only 16% of the nursing managers expressed dissatisfaction with their job and desire to leave the job. This means acceptable quality of work life among the participants. There are also strategies to achieve higher QWL for nursing managers. We recommend putting more emphasize on issues such as better financial facilities, higher and fair salary and allowance, participation in strategic decision making of the wards and hospitals, establishing better performance evaluation systems and more effective motivation mechanisms, as well as easier access to academic scholars and scientific journals.
Acknowledgement
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
References
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