Relationship between Characteristics of Respondents with Quality of

Nursing Work Life

Ineke Patrisia

and Fransiska Sri Susilaningsih

Faculty of Nursing, Universitas Pelita Harapan, Tangerang, Indonesia

Faculty of Nursing, Universitas Padjajaran, Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords: Nurses, Quality of Life, Work.

Abstract: Quality of work life as an important factor and the essential of services in hospital including in nursing

services. When the hospital concern about that, the nurses will give themselves fully and focus on the

service. The purpose of this research was to identify the relationship between characteristics of respondents

with quality of nursing work life. The research used correlational method with cross sectional approach. The

research involved 193 nurses at a hospital in western Indonesia that were selected using purposive sampling.

The researchers used the Brooks’ survey of quality of nursing work life which has been translated into

English and validity and reliability has been tested. The results showed that every characteristics have no

relationship with quality of nursing work life (p value > 0.05) The conclusion is the research showed that no

significant relationship between respondents characteristic with quality of nursing work life. Further

research is needed to identify the other factors use the other design and with more respondents. Researchers

hope the results can be used as a guide for nursing management of one of hospitals in Western Indonesia to

do enhancement.

1 INTRODUCTION

Hospital is facility that serves health, has a very vital

role and function to improve quality of health. One

of hospitals in Western Indonesia which is a national

referral hospital based on the Decree of Minister of

Health of Republic of Indonesia Number HK.02.02/

Menkes/ 390/2014 has the vision to become a

superior and transformative Health Institution in

improving the health status of people entitled to

holistic and plenary health service. The visible role

of a hospital is in accordance with the Law of the

Republic of Indonesia Number 44 of 2009.

One of hospitals in Western Indonesia has been

appointed to be one of the 9 (nine) Pilot Project

Hospitals in the Nurse Career Path nationally since

2012 and carried out by the Indonesian Ministry of

Health in collaboration with Japan International

Cooperation Agency (JICA). This is done as an

effort to develop the nursing profession and

structuring nursing service in a better direction.

Nursing is an integral component of health care in

hospital that plays role and determines the quality of

health services (Aditama, 2004). Data from Ministry

of Health Online Hospital on August 7, 2017

reported that 50.91% of the proportion of all health

workers was filled by Nursing Human Resource.

The implementation of nurses' roles and functions is

influenced by several factors, one of which is the

quality of work life.

Brooks and Anderson (2005) state that quality of

work life is a concept that describes nurses'

perceptions of meeting needs through work

experience in organization so that nurses can have

maximum work productivity and obtain personal

satisfaction in meeting their needs. The main focus

of Quality of Work Life (QWL) itself is that the

work environment and all the work in it must be in

accordance with the people and technology that

exists. This is also in accordance with Soedarmoto in

Samtica (2011) stating that the focus of QWL is the

impact on individuals, namely how work can make

one's life better.

This is also in accordance with Gitosudarmo in

Usman (2009) who states that the main goal of the

QWL program is to create a more democratic

organization where everyone has a voice towards

something that will affect their lives. Gitosudarmo

also mentioned that the other main goal is to

improve individual development by creating

176

Patrisia, I. and Susilaningsih, F.

Relationship between Characteristics of Respondents with Quality of Nursing Work Life.

DOI: 10.5220/0008222201760180

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of Indonesian National Nurses Association (ICINNA 2018), pages 176-180

ISBN: 978-989-758-406-0

condition that supports personal growth. Mahmudah

(2013) suggests that the concept work life quality

states the importance of human respect in the work

environment. QWL has an important role by

focusing more on changing the organizational

climate in management and individual aspect, so that

QWL increases.

The focus and aspect that must be considered are

the individual nurses as health providers in their

work environment. All established policies in the

organization will have an impact on each individual

and on job satisfaction and an increase in the quality

of the worker's life. This is in accordance with

Usman (2009) stating that the quality of work life

program is expected to improve communication

between nurses and groups, improve coordination

between individual and related systems, increase

awareness in nurses (motivation) and increase the

ability of staff, especially nurses in providing

nursing care. This increase was directed towards

achieving the organization's vision and mission.

Therefore, the application of policies within the

organization still must pay attention to the impact of

these policies on nurses who will ultimately have an

impact on improving the quality of work life.

Based on the results of interviews with the Head

of the Special Nursing Service Section that hospital,

that the approach given to staff was also adjusted to

the characteristic of the nurse. Therefore, researchers

feel interested in seeing the relationship between

nurse characteristics and the quality of nurse's work

life.

2 METHODS

This study used quantitative research with a

correlational analysis method. The sample used was

193 people. The sampling technique used was

purposive sampling. The selection of sample was

based on inclusion criteria (Clinical nursing level 1-

4) which were considered to have a close

relationship with the characteristics of the

population that were previously known, namely they

had followed the implementation of clinical nurse

career path during the period of pilot project

implementation of career path (> 2 years of service)

in surgical inpatient and internal medicine room.

The research instrument used the QNWL

standard questionnaire from Brooks and Anderson

(2005) regarding the conceptual framework with

instruments related to the quality of nurse's work life

(42 statements). These questions are discussed about

work life/ home life, work design, work context,

work world. That quesionnaire focused on quality of

nursing work life. The quesionaire had used Likert

scale (1-4). The questionnaire had been translated by

Susilaningsih et al (2013) into Indonesian and

validity had been done with a range of 0.32-0.88 and

reliability with a value of 0.789

The researcher conducted research by paying

attention to ethical aspects are benefience, non

maleficience, autonomy, anonimity, veracity, justice,

confidentiality. The research also asked informed

consent to the respondents. The researchers also

through the ethical review process in Health

Research Ethics Committee Hasan Sadikin Hospital.

The results of this study were analysed using

univariate and bivariate analysis methods, namely by

means of statistical calculations with a level trust

95%.

3 RESULTS

3.1 Characteristics Respondents

The table 1 below shows the characteristics of the

respondents.

Table 1: Frequency Distribution of Characteristics of

Respondents (n = 193).

Characteristics of

Respondents

Freq

Percentage

(%)

Age (years old)

24-33 90 46.6

34-43 73 37.8

44-53 27 14.0

54-63 3 1.6

Gender

Male 55 28,5

Female 138 71,5

Length of

working (year)

2-11 108 56,0

12-21 58 30,1

22-31 25 13,0

32-41 2 1,0

Education

3 1,5

Degree 119 61,7

Ners 67 34,7

Maste

4 2,1

Career level

PK 1 48 24,9

PK 2 61 31,6

PK 3 78 40,4

PK 4 6 3,1

Data from table 1 illustrates that less than half of

respondents were 24-33 years old (46.6%), more

than half were female (71.5%), had worked 2-11

years (56%), Diploma (61.7%), and less than a half

were categorized as Clinical Nurse 3 (40.4%).

Relationship between Characteristics of Respondents with Quality of Nursing Work Life

177

3.2 Frequency Distribution of QNWL

The table 2 below shows frequency distribution of

QNWL.

Table 2: QNWL of clinical nurse (n=193).

Dimension

High Low

F % F %

All dimension 190 98,4 3 1,6

Work life/ home life 189 97,93 4 2,07

Work design 174 90,15 19 9,85

Work contex

183 94,82 10 5,18

Work world 157 81,35 36 18,65

Table 2 shows that almost all of the respondents

had a high quality of work life for nurses (98.4%).

Seen from each dimension, almost all of the

respondents had high quality work life for nurses.

3.3 Relationship between

Characteristics with QNWL

The table below shows relationship between

respondents characteristic with quality of nursing

work life.

Table 3: Relationship between Characteristic with QNWL.

Crosstabs Test used Sig.

e*QNWL Chi-S

uare 0,861

Gende

*QNWL Chi-S

uare 0,852

Lengthofworking*QNWL Chi-Square 0,919

Education*QNWL Chi-Square 0,705

Careerlevel*QNWL Chi-S

uare 0,974

Based on table 3, it can be seen that age, sex,

length of work, education, and career did not have a

significant relationship with the quality of nurse

work life (p> 0.05)

4 DISCUSSION

This study aimed at assesing the relationship

between nurse characteristics and the quality of

nurse’s work life. Finding of this suggests that the

significance value between age and QNWL was

0.861, it indicated that there was no significant

relationship between them. These results were in

line with the research of Oyoh et al., (2017) where

age is not related to QNWL. But these results were

not in line with the results of research conducted by

Purnomo (2012), namely that there is a relationship

between the age of nurses and QWL. According to

Purnomo the age of a nurse will provide an overview

of readiness in serving patients in nursing service.

The researcher argued that nursing services require

mental readiness because nurse will face different

patient characteristics. Nursing services provided

must include bio, psycho, socio and spiritual so that

a nurse cannot just pay attention to the physical

element. In some cases, nurses will find patients

who experience socio and psycho problems so that a

preparedness is needed to deal with these patients.

Researchers argue that along with increasing age in

general individuals become more mature, more

stable, more determined so that they have a more

realistic view that will influence them in making

decisions.

As we know, age is the length of time a person

lives which is calculated from birth. Age is seen as

having an influence on the quality possessed by

nurse. The increasing of age, the individual will

motivate himself to be better in socioeconomic

status by working and will strive to improve the

quality of his working life. Research conducted by

Kumajas et al. (2014) concluded that age will

influence nurse performance which can be seen in

the nature of wisdom, decision making,

responsibility, mindset, emotional control and

tolerance along with age.

It was found that there was no significant

relationship between sex and QNWL. The results is

in line with Oyoh et al (2017) where sex is not

related to QNWL. But these results were not in line

with the results of research conducted by Purnomo

(2012), namely that there is a significant relationship

between the sex of nurses with QWL. Based on staff

basis, in this study found that inpatient rooms were

filled by female more than half. If we look at the

membership report recorded in the nurses'

professional organization information system,

Persatuan Perawat Nasional Indonesia (PPNI) the

number of nurses who registered until April 2017

was 359,339 people consisting of 29% (103,013

male nurses) and 71% (256,326 female nurses).

The government and organizations need

appropriate management systems and policies to

achieve quality work life. The researchers argue that

the best method to start is to recognize that there are

some important differences between men and

women that affect performance. One problem that

seems to differentiate between sexes that will affect

QNWL is that when employees have preschool

children is a choice of work schedules so that female

nurses can still share their time with their

responsibilities at home) and QNWL targets remain

created. Robbins (2006) states that female nurse will

tend to have more internal conflicts between work

ICINNA 2018 - The 1st International Conference of Indonesian National Nurses Association

178

and responsibilities towards the family which will

affect the quality of the worker's life, especially in

the dimensions of worklife/ homelife.

As we know, in the era of emancipation, the

current increase in the number of women working is

normal. Some researchers find that women tend to

spend more time on family matters so women were

reported to experience more family work conflicts,

especially family interference with work (Berk et

al). Conversely, men tend to spend more time

dealing with work affairs than women, so men are

reported to experience more family work conflicts,

especially work interference than women.

Researcher assumes that gender is a physical trait

that distinguishes individual characteristics which

can affect nature. This will affect the emotions and

mindset and will ultimately affect the acceptance of

the process of achieving quality work life.

It was found that the significance value between

the length of work and QNWL was 0.919,

indicatingthat there was no significant relationship

between them. This was not in line with the results

of Purnomo's (2012) study which states that the

longer the work period of a nurse, the work pressure

will be lower because they become accustomed to

facing patients with different characteristics.

This is reinforced by the opinion of Robbins

(2001) which states that the working period greatly

influences the mastery of employee work details,

where the respondent with a longer work period has

better experience, confidence and mastery of job

description. The researcher argued that the longer a

person's work period it will increase the ability and

mastery of existing cases. A nurse who has a long

work period will try to provide maximum nursing

services based on experience during work. This is

due to the longer work period of the employee so

that the employee becomes more proficient in his

work activities. It was in line with Kumajas et al

(2014) which states that work experience will

increase understanding of duties and responsibilities.

Rose et al in Samtica (2011) also states that the

length of career and the total length of work in one

job is related to career success which is related to

completion in work and career which has an impact

on success.

The researcher stated that the duration of work

will have an impact on job satisfaction and an

increase in nursing services that will provide an

increase in the quality of nurse's work life and

nurse's performance. Also this study finding

suggests that there was no significant relationship

between education and QNWL. This was not in line

with the results of Robbins's research (2006) which

states that recent education greatly influences the

ability, insight and level of confidence of

respondents in carrying out their work. This is

because education is very important in order to

improve its abilities. Respondents with a high level

of education are able to work with higher levels of

difficulty and responsibility.

The level of education affects the individual in

responding to something. The higher level of

education will be more rational, open and creative in

accepting change. In addition, with a high level of

education, the insight owned is broader so that it

increases motivation in working and finding out new

things. The level of education is a formal learning

process while informal learning process is in the

form of work experience. The level of education of a

person make a person will be more rational, open

and creative in accepting change. So that it can be

concluded that the higher the level of education of

employees will improve performance. This is

because the higher the level of education of a

person, the higher the logic of thinking and the level

of self-confidence of employees so that employees

in carrying out their work activities will be more

systematic so that it will have a positive impact on

the performance and quality of nurse work life.

It was found that there was no significant

relationship between career level wirh QNWL. This

finding not in line with Rose et al by Samtica, 2011)

who states that career levels have a positive effect to

on QWL. Some models of careers state that

individuals may think that their careers differ

depending on their age level. Cascio (2010) states

that career levels make employees improve more the

quality of service provided to customers and will

improve the quality of nurse work life. Nurses will

develop faster in their work through experience,

trust because they have succeeded in doing previous

work and are equipped with training that is suitable

for current level. It is important to build strong self-

confidence so that he/ she is ready to accept new

responsibilities.

Researcher argued that career gap which is an

individual characteristic was not related to the

quality of work life because it is the role of the effort

of hospital nursing management. It was also seen

from the nationally appointed one of Western

Indonesian Hospitals being one of the 9 (nine) Pilot

Project Hospitals in the Nurse Career Level. The

pilot project for the implementation of this clinical

nurse career level is helping nursing management in

order to improve the quality of nurse work life

(Patrisia et al., 2018). This is in accordance with the

study by Rivai and Sagala (2009) which states that it

Relationship between Characteristics of Respondents with Quality of Nursing Work Life

179

takes effort by management through improving the

quality of work life which aims to provide greater

opportunities to staff. Hopefully these goals can

improve the quality of work carried out by nurses

and help achieve a hospital agency.

Overall, in this study, patient characteristic was

not related to the quality of work life. Apart from the

existence of a career pilot program in clinical nurse,

this is influenced by other factors. Hanefah in

Simanungkalit (2012) states that management plays

an active role in the growth and development of each

staff by developing factors that influence QNWL.

Management provides opportunities for nurses to

develop skills and performance. This can be seen

from the results of interviews with the Nursing

Committee which stated that there was a mapping to

take part in formal or non-formal education for each

nurse.

The management also provides opportunities for

nurses to participate in decision making based on

their career level. In this way, the nurse will be

responsible for his work. The influence of a

comfortable work environment also influences the

quality of working life of nurses. Based on the

results of observation, the management seemed to

facilitate the needs of facilities and infrastructure

that support the implementation of nursing care. The

existence of supervision also helps nurses to get

input and direction when there is confusion in the

implementation of nursing care. Based on the results

of the interview, it was found that nurses were more

eager to finish the work because they got clear

direction from their respective superiors (team

leader or head of the room). A work environment

that has a good relationship between colleagues

leads to an increase in QNWL in terms of work

design. Based on the results of interviews with

nurses, QNWL was also influenced because of the

wages and compensation obtained in accordance

with the work undertaken. With this pilot project

career level, nurses work based on the authority of

each career level.

The limitations of this research was only used

questionnaire not used the other method like

interview.

5 CONCLUSION

This study showed that there was no significant

relationship between respondents characteristic with

quality of nursing work life. The researcher

recommends increase the number of respondents and

use the other research design for further research.

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