Factors Related to Quality of Work Life among Nurses Practitioners in Primary Care Units of the Health Service Region 4

Abstract

This research aimed to determine the level of quality of work life and analyzed the factors influenc-ing the quality of work life among nurse practitioners working in primary care units in the catchment area of the Health Service Region 4 of Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. A cross sectional survey research design was conducted by using self-administered questionnaires. Participants were 314 nurse practitioners selected by stratified random sampling. Chi-square, Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression analysis were used in the analysis. The results showed that the moderate levels of quality of work life were found in the aspect of compassion satisfaction (46.7%), burnout (42.5%) and secondary traumatic stress (54.4%) among nurse practitioners. The 20.0% of variance in quality of work life in the aspect of compassion satisfaction could be explained by variance in organiza-tional climate, the perception of performance in the nurse practitioner’s roles, health hazards from work, service delivery to response clients’ expectation (R²-Adj.=0.20, p<0.05). The 27.0% of variance in burnout could be explained by variance in organizational climate, health hazards from work, service delivery to response clients’ expectation, quantity and complexity of clients’ health problems of nurse practitioners (R²-Adj.=0.27, p<0.05). The 19.0% of variance of secondary traumatic stress could be explained by variance in age, health hazards from work, quantity and complexity of clients’ health prob-lems nurse practitioners (R²-Adj.=0.19, p<0.05). The recommendations from this study were that the administrators in primary care units should ensure their preparedness for coping with problems and setting up a system to prevent health hazards. The policy for promoting nurse practitioners’ value, organization climate and work performance should be launched. Moreover, service quality should be provided and aligned with customer’s expectation for improving the quality of work life among nurse practitioners.