Shift Work and Quality of Personal, Professional, and Family Life among Health Care Workers in a Rehabilitation Center in Greece.

CONTEXT

Adverse work schedules and conditions may affect the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of workers, impairing quality of life and causing conflict between family and work roles.

AIMS

To compare quality of life, professional quality of life (ProQOL), and work/family conflict (WFC) between shift workers and nonshift workers and explore possible associations with demographic characteristics.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a rehabilitation center in Central Greece, recording demographic, occupational, and family characteristics.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Participants answered the World Health Organization-5 Well-Being Index, the ProQOL questionnaire [compassion satisfaction (CS), and the burnout (BO) and secondary traumatic stress scales], and the WFC scale.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED

IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 19.0 for Windows.

RESULTS

Ninety-one employees (68.7% shift workers) participated, with mean age 33.5. Females reported higher compassion/satisfaction level ( = 0.031). Nursing profession was associated with higher levels of BO ( = 0.021), impact of work to family life ( = 0.008), and impact of family to work (FtW), and WFC ( = 0.008). Parenthood increased the impact of FtW ( = 0.008) and predispose to WFC ( = 0.023). In general, wellbeing was significantly correlated with CS ( = 0.368, < 0.01), BO ( = -0.538, < 0.01), and levels of WFC ( = 0.003). Work and family roles conflict was statistically significantly correlated with levels of BO ( = 0.497, < 0.01), and CS ( = -0.288, < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

The interaction between general, professional, and family quality of life can guide interventions in the workplace in order to improve workers' quality of life and promote workers' health.