Relationship between quality of professional life and organizational commitment in intensive care unit nurses

Abstract

Abstract Objective The quality of professional life has attracted the attention of many managers owing to its importance, and organizational commitment differs according to work conditions in an organization. As the largest professional group in the healthcare system, nurses face many stressful factors that can endanger their quality of professional life and organizational commitment. Despite their huge importance, these 2 variables have rarely been addressed or evaluated in the nursing profession. The present study was conducted to determine the relationship between quality of professional life and organizational commitment in nurses working in the intensive care units (ICUs) and critical care units (CCUs). Methods The present descriptive–analytical study was conducted on 221 nurses working in the ICUs of hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and selected through proportional stratified sampling. The data collection tools comprised demographic questionnaires, the quality of work-life questionnaire by Walton with 8 dimensions, and the valid and reliable organizational commitment scale by Meyer and Allen. The data were analyzed in SPSS, version 23 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, New York, United States), using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques, including Spearman correlation, Pearson correlation, the Kruskal–Wallis test, the Mann–Whitney U test, the χ2 test, and the independent t test. P < 0.050 was set as the level of statistical significance. Results The mean scores of quality of professional life and organizational commitment were 58.996 ± 14.427 and 93.840 ± 13.900, respectively, in the ICU nurses. The Pearson test showed positive and significant relationships between quality of professional life and organizational commitment (r = 0.392, P < 0.001). Conclusions Given the positive relationship found in the present study between organizational commitment and quality of professional life, it is recommended that organizational commitment be modified to improve the quality of professional life in nurses.