An exploration of quality of life and related factors among female flight attendants.
BACKGROUND
Quality of life is currently an important issue in the medical industry. Many studies have found that shift work affects health and life quality. However, data on quality of life related to female flight attendants are lacking.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to explore quality of life and related factors such as demographic data, work status, fatigue, sleep quality, and family function as they relate to female flight attendants working on international routes.


METHODS
The study used a cross-sectional research design. A purposive sample of 207 participants was recruited from the Aviation Medical Center. The questionnaire distributed to participants incorporated the Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue, the Chinese version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Family Apgar Index, and the Taiwanese version of the WHOQOL-BREF.


RESULTS
The mean score for holistic quality of life among participants was 54.49 (SD = 6.48), which ranks at a high-intermediate level. The physical health domain earned the highest mean score and the psychological domain earned the lowest. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis using the enter method showed that eight predictors, including religion, drug use, employment status, job stress, job passion, fatigue, sleep quality, and family function, explained 34.2% of variance in holistic quality of life. After controlling for demographics, analysis showed that three variables--fatigue, sleep quality, and family function--accounted for 21.3% of variance in holistic quality of life.


CONCLUSIONS
Healthcare providers should consider fatigue, sleep quality, and family function factors when planning related health promotion and disease prevention programs for female flight attendants in the future.
Chung
Chi-Ti
CT
Department of Nursing, National Taiwan University Hospital.
Chung
Ue-Lin
UL
D000328:Adult; D001359:Aviation; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce