Sexual life satisfaction and its associated socio-demographic and workplace factors among Chinese female nurses of tertiary general hospitals

Feng Ji,Chuanjun Zhuo,Deguo Jiang,Xiaodong Lin,Lirong Hu,Wei Zhang,Weifang Zheng,Ce Cheng,Chongguang Lin

doi:10.18632/oncotarget.17664

Abstract

Adverse workplace factors such as job stress are reported to be associated with poor physical and mental health of nurses. However, associations between occupational factors and sexual life satisfaction (SLS) of nurses remain understudied. This study investigated SLS of Chinese female nurses of tertiary general hospitals and socio-demographic and occupational factors associated with reduced SLS of nurses. In this cross-sectional survey, 393 Chinese female nurses of four tertiary general hospitals completed a standardized socio-demographic and occupational characteristics questionnaire, Zung's Self-rating Scale for Depression, Job Content Questionnaire, and a self-report SLS question. Multiple ordinal logistic regression was used to identify factors related to reduced SLS. Fourteen point five percent female nurses were dissatisfied with their current sex lives. In multiple regression, related factors for decreased SLS included being unmarried (OR = 1.49), shift work (OR = 1.92), contract employment (OR = 1.63), high job demands (OR = 2.21), low job control (OR = 1.88), inadequate social support (OR = 2.32), and depression (OR = 3.14). Chinese female nurses of tertiary general hospitals have poor SLS. Reducing job stress and providing psycho-social support may help improve SLS of nurses.

Highlights

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the etiological role of workplace psychosocial factors in the occurrence and development of physical and mental health problems in various occupational populations [1]
The average age of the 393 female nurses was 32.5 years, 53.4% had an educational attainment of 4-year college and above, 87.3% were married, 37.4% were engaged in shift work, and 73.3% had worked for at least 8 years
Results of comparisons of sexual life satisfaction (SLS) scores between subgroups according respondent characteristics (Table 1) showed that, nurses who had an educational attainment of 3-year college and below, were unmarried, rated their family income level as “poor”, were shift workers, held a technical title of Nurse or Nurse Practitioner, were contract employee, scored high on Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ)-demands subscale, scored low on JCQcontrol subscale, scored low on JCQ-social support subscale, and had clinically significant depressive symptoms, were significantly more likely to have low SLS scores

Summary

Introduction

There has been an increasing focus on the etiological role of workplace psychosocial factors in the occurrence and development of physical and mental health problems in various occupational populations [1]. There have been many studies reporting the significant relationships of adverse work-related factors (i.e., extended hours of working and job stress) with poor physical and mental health of nurses [3,4,5,6,7]. A few studies has reported that night-shift work, longer working hours, and “the pressure to do more in less time” had significant deleterious effects on sexual health of both males and females [8,9,10,11,12]. Very few studies have focused on workplace factors influencing sexual health of nurses

Methods

Results

Conclusion