Relationship between Nurses’ Social Health and their Quality of Life

Background: Social health is considered as one of the important aspects of health. Nurses are among the most important health care providers and their quality of life bares great importance for providing good health care quality. Accordingly, this study aimed at determining the relationship between social health and nurses’ quality of life in hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS). Methods: In this descriptive-correlational study, 227 nurses were selected by cluster random sampling in five hospitals affiliated to IUMS. The research instrument consisted of demographic information form, Keys social health questionnaire and short form of quality of life questionnaire (SF-36). Data was analyzed by descriptive statistical tests (frequency, mean and standard deviation) and also ANOVA, independent t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple linear regressions using SPSS-PC v. 20       Results: The mean score of nurses’ social health was 67.22 ± 8.96 with the lowest score in social solidarity (9.16 ± 2.34) and the highest score in social participation (18.58 ± 2.52). The mean score of nurses’ quality of life was 64.62 ± 18.6. The lowest score was related to energy and fatigue (59.09 ± 18.49) and the highest score was associated to physical function (79.55 ± 21.83). The results showed a significant association between quality of life and all aspects of social health (P <0.05). There was no significant relationship between social health and demographic characteristics of the nurses (P >0.05). There was a significant relationship between quality of life and age (P = 0.046), work experience (P = 0.03), marital status (P = 0.024) and income (P=0.041).   Conclusion: Since the nurses’ quality of life was associated with their social health, it is suggested that the managers and policymakers in nursing profession take serious steps to improve their personnel’s quality of life and social health if they are interested in the quality of patient care.