Purpose: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) continues to be understudied among nurses in developing countries. This study aimed to assess (1) the HRQoL of nurses in Malawi caring for hospitalised children and their families, and (2) the nurses' demographic characteristics associated with their HRQoL.
Design and methods: The cross-sectional study was carried out at 23 hospitals in Malawi, and 203 nurses participated, resulting in a 96% response rate. The Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey was used to collect data. The physical and mental health component scores were evaluated and compared with those in a Cyprus study as the population norm. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were performed, with the significance level set at 0.05.
Results: The nurses' HRQoL was moderately impaired; however, the mean scores of both the physical and the mental health components of the nurses in the Cyprus study were statistically lower than those of the Malawian nurses (t = 36.541, p < 0.001 and t = 19.477, p < 0.001, respectively). Age was independently associated with a better physical health status (β = 29.949, p = 0.038), while female nurses were more likely to report a negative physical health status compared with male nurses (β = -97.481, p = 0.002).
Conclusion: The findings suggested that the Malawian nurses were affected by work-related stress, which affected their mental and physical health status. The current findings represent preliminary data, and as such further studies on the association between work-related factors and HRQoL are needed.
Practice implications: Knowledge of HRQoL from the perspective of nurses can help healthcare organisations to develop interventions to limit the negative impacts of work-related stress on nurses caring for children.
Keywords: Families; Health-related quality of life; Hospitalised children; Malawi; Work-related stress.
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