Quality of nursing work life among Lebanese nurses

Abstract

Quality of nursing work life is linked with better outcomes for individual nurses and healthcare organizations. Despite the interventions Lebanese health care organizations have employed to recruit and retain nurses, the shortage of professional nurses remains to be the top challenge. As a response to this situation, organizations are focused on identifying factors that attract qualified nurses and those that keep hold of these nurses. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the quality of nursing work life among Lebanese nurses working in hospital settings. Other aims were to assess the association of quality of nursing work life with different socio-demographic and work-related variables; and to explore its relationship with leadership style, organizational culture, job engagement, job performance, job satisfaction, nurses’ intention to leave and nurses’ perceived health status. Sample: The sample included 710 registered nurses from 13 major hospitals (four public hospitals and nine private hospitals) in the five Lebanese geographic areas (Beirut; Mount Lebanon; North; South; Beqaa). Registered nurses were all Lebanese. They had been working in a hospital setting for at least one year, and providing direct patient care. All other nursing staff whether from the management level or practical nurses and auxiliaries were excluded. Ethical Considerations: Institutional review board approval and approvals from the different hospitals’ administration were obtained prior to conducting the study. An informed consent preceded the survey explaining the benefits and risks and the voluntary participation in the study. Instrument: A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire included sociodemographic and work-related questions, Brook’s Quality of Nursing Work Life (QNWL) survey and global statements about leadership style, organizational culture, job engagement, job performance, job satisfaction, nurses’ intention to leave and nurses’ perce