A study of the relationship between professional values and ethical climate and nurses'professional quality of life in Iran

Objective:To explore the relationship between nursing professional values and ethical climate and nurses'professional quality of life.Methods:The present study is a descriptive,cross-sectional work in which 400 nurses from various wards of hospitals in the south-east of Iran were studied.Data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of four sections:demographics,Nurses'Professional Values Scale-Revised(NPVS-R),the Hospital Ethical Climate Survey(HECS),and the Professional Quality of Life Scale(ProQOL).Results:The total mean scores for professional values were 105.29±15.60.The total mean score for the ethical climate was 100.09±17.11.The mean scores for the indexes of compassion satisfaction,burnout,and secondary traumatic stress were 45.29±8.93,34.38±6.84,and 32.15±7.02 respectively.The relationships between professional values and the indexes of compassion satisfaction(r=0.56),burnout(r=0.26),and secondary traumatic stress(r=0.18)were found to be positive and significant(P<0.001).Also,the relationships between ethical climate and the items of compassion satisfaction(r=0.60,P<0.001),burnout(r=0.15,P=0.002)were found to be positive and significant.Conclusion:An understanding of nurses'perception of professional values and improving the ethical climate at work can help nursing administrators identify more effective strategies toward increasing compassion satisfaction and lessening bumout and work-related stress.

Hospital ethical climate associated with the professional quality of life among nurses during the early stage of COVID-19 pandemic inWuhan,China:A cross-sectional study

Objectives:To describe the professional quality of life and explore its associated factors among nurses coming from other areas of China to assist with the anti-epidemic fight inWuhan and especially examine whether the hospital ethical climate was independently associated with nurses’professional quality of life.Methods:A cross-sectional online survey was conducted from March 2020 to April 2020.The nurses working in Wuhan from the other parts of China were the target population.The Professional Quality of Life Scale version 5,the Hospital Ethical Climate Survey,and a basic information sheet were used to collect data.Descriptive statistics,t-test,ANOVA,Pearson correlation,and multiple linear regression analysis were used to analyze the data.Results:In total,236 nurses participated in this study,and 219 valid questionnaires were analyzed.The average age of the participants was 31.2±5.0 years.Most nurses were female(176/219;80.4%)and married(145/219;66.2%).In term of professional quality of life,nurses reported moderate(129/219;58.9%)to high(90/219;41.1%)levels of compassion satisfaction,low(119/219;54.3%)to moderate(100/219;45.7%)levels of burnout,and low(67/219;36.0%)to high(10/219;4.6%)levels of secondary traumatic stress.Regarding hospital ethical climate,nurses reported moderately high hospital ethical climates with an average score of 4.46.After controlling for socio-demographic characteristics,the multiple linear regression models showed that the hospital ethical climate subscale of“relationship with physicians”was independently associated with the compassion satisfaction(b=0.533,P<0.01)and burnout(b=0.237,P<0.05);the hospital ethical climate subscale of“relationship with peers”(b=0.191,P<0.01)was independently associated with the secondary traumatic stress.Conclusions:During the early stage of the pandemic,nurses demonstrated moderate to high level of compassion satisfaction,low to moderate level of burnout,and all nurses experienced secondary traumatic stress.Nurses perceived a high level of hospital ethical climate,and the perceived hospital ethical climate played an important role in promoting nurses’professional quality of life during a lifethreatening infectious disease pandemic.