Nurse health-related quality of life: associations with patient and ward characteristics in Japanese general acute care wards.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the factors affecting nurse health-related quality of life (HRQOL) by considering the patient characteristics and ward characteristics.


BACKGROUND
Nurse health-related quality of life is an important health outcome, and should be promoted for quality nursing care.


METHODS
This cross-sectional study was conducted on nurses who work in general acute care wards in three university hospitals in metropolitan Japan. Multilevel analysis was conducted to investigate possible factors related to nurse health-related quality of life.


RESULTS
Nurses who worked at a ward had a significantly lower physical health score (β = -0.13, P < 0.01). These nurses had a higher ratio of patients who could not understand medical instructions, had cognitive disabilities, or required assistance with activities of daily living (ADL). The number of beds was the only factor significantly related to mental health status of nurses (β = 0.19, P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Work conditions that sustain nurse health should take into account not only the number of nurses, but also patient characteristics. Further large-scale studies are needed in order to investigate the effect of hospital characteristics on nurse health-related quality of life.


CONCLUSIONS
Increasing the number of nurses' aides and delegating assistance with ADL to them could support nurse health-related quality of life in the acute care setting.
Department of System Management in Nursing, Graduate School of Health Care Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
Yumiko
Y
Oyama
Center for Social Research and Data Archives, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Yuki
Y
Yonekura
Department of System Management in Nursing, Graduate School of Health Care Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
Hiroki
H
Fukahori
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
health status; health-related quality of life; nurses