Relationships between self-efficacy, coping style and quality of work-life among nursing managers in China: A cross-sectional study.

Abstract

To investigate the quality of work-life among nursing managers in China and analyse the relationships between self-efficacy, coping style and quality of work-life. Self-efficacy, coping-style and quality of work-life play significant roles in the stability of nursing teams, the quality of clinical care and patient safety. Although some factors influencing quality of work-life have been identified, there is no large-scale study of the relationships among self-efficacy, coping style and quality of work-life of nursing managers. Strategies to strengthen the quality of work-life of nursing managers should be developed by exploring the relationships between the three variables. A nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 1498 nursing managers from 51 tertiary general hospitals in 20 provinces in China were selected for the study using multistage stratified proportional sampling. Registered full-time nursing managers with more than 1 year of management experience were eligible for the study. The participants completed online questionnaires to assess their self-efficacy, coping style and work-related quality of life. The data were analysed using descriptive analysis, Pearson's correlation, hierarchical multiple linear regression and structural equation modelling to verify the relationships between variables. The quality of work-life score for the nursing managers surveyed was 3.74 ± 0.56 out of a possible 5. Self-efficacy was positively correlated with quality of work-life (β = .484, P < .01) over all demographic variables. Positive coping was also positively associated with quality of work-life (β = .404, P < .01). Self-efficacy and positive coping explained 22.7% and 14.2% of the variance in the quality of work-life, respectively. Structural equation modelling indicated that self-efficacy positively and directly predicted the quality of work-life (β = .395, P < .001), and indirectly affected quality of work-life via positive coping (β = .186, P < .001), but not via negative coping (β = .005, P > .05). The final model could explain 44% of the variance in the quality of work-life. Self-efficacy was positively correlated with quality of work-life among Chinese nursing managers, and positive coping partially mediated this relationship. The results suggest that self-efficacy and positive coping are pivotal facilitators for improving the quality of work-life and need to be taken into account in measures to improve the quality of work-life of nursing managers. Hospital administrators should recognize the importance of nursing managers' work-life quality to promote both the stability of nursing teams and the quality of clinical care and safety provided. They should help nursing managers foster self-efficacy and active coping abilities through incentive measures and provide positive coping training courses to enhance their quality of work-life.