Work-Life Balance among Teaching Hospital Nurses in Malaysia

Mohd Nurumal,Yanika Kowitlawakul,Farah Ilyani Che Jamaludin,Khin Thandar Aung,Sachiko Makabe,Hairil Fahmi Mohd Yusof

doi:10.5539/gjhs.v9n9p81

Abstract

Extreme workload and poor working environment have a negative impact on the emotional and physical statuses among nurses. The study has contributed to evaluate work-life balance and its related factors among teaching hospital nurses. It was aimed to examine the work-life balance and its related factors among teaching hospital nurses. A cross-sectional study using a universal sampling technique was conducted. 1002 nurses were included from the Teaching hospital of Klang Valley, Malaysia. The instrument was adapted from NIOSH Generic Job Stress Questionnaire and QoL questionnaire from WHO, and it was used to measure the quality of work-life balance. Non-work activities, job requirement, supervisor support, job satisfaction, manageability, social and environmental variables have independently influenced work-life balance among nurses. Furthermore, quality of life variables has positively influenced the work-life balance (P&lt;0.050). Work life balance and organizational commitment can have a positive relationship. Whereas, Nurses working in fixed shifts were observed with greater work-life balance as compared to the nurses working in multiple shifts. A friendly environment in the professional sector plays a major role for developing motivation and enthusiasm among workers.

Highlights

Work-life balance is an idea that includes the prioritizing between the lifestyle and work along with balancing career and lifestyle together, which often seems a difficult goal in an individual’s life
Nurses, who were working in fixed shift, have greater work-life balance score as compared to nurses that are not working in fixed shift
The present study has focused on the work-life balance among teaching hospital nurses in Malaysia

Summary

Introduction

Work-life balance is an idea that includes the prioritizing between the lifestyle and work along with balancing career and lifestyle together, which often seems a difficult goal in an individual’s life. Working environment offered by an employer has a significant influence on the emotional health of the workers. Numerous researches have indicated that the employees would have a higher level of participation and motivation towards job matters, when their employers offer a good working environment (Engel et al, 2014; Timilsina Bhandari et al, 2015; Hinami et al, 2012). The staff relies on the management and their practices for job satisfaction (Buerhaus et al, 2015). Excessive workload and poor working environment affects greatly on psychological aspects due to ever-growing trends of the healthcare industry nowadays (Engel et al, 2014)

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