RESUMO
AIM: To investigate the quality of work-life among nursing managers in China and analyse the relationships between self-efficacy, coping style and quality of work-life. BACKGROUND: Self-efficacy, coping-style and quality of work-life play significant roles in the stability of nursing teams, the quality of clinical care and patient safety. Although some factors influencing quality of work-life have been identified, there is no large-scale study of the relationships among self-efficacy, coping style and quality of work-life of nursing managers. Strategies to strengthen the quality of work-life of nursing managers should be developed by exploring the relationships between the three variables. METHODS: A nationwide cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 1498 nursing managers from 51 tertiary general hospitals in 20 provinces in China were selected for the study using multistage stratified proportional sampling. Registered full-time nursing managers with more than 1 year of management experience were eligible for the study. The participants completed online questionnaires to assess their self-efficacy, coping style and work-related quality of life. The data were analysed using descriptive analysis, Pearson's correlation, hierarchical multiple linear regression and structural equation modelling to verify the relationships between variables. RESULTS: The quality of work-life score for the nursing managers surveyed was 3.74 ± 0.56 out of a possible 5. Self-efficacy was positively correlated with quality of work-life (ß = .484, P < .01) over all demographic variables. Positive coping was also positively associated with quality of work-life (ß = .404, P < .01). Self-efficacy and positive coping explained 22.7% and 14.2% of the variance in the quality of work-life, respectively. Structural equation modelling indicated that self-efficacy positively and directly predicted the quality of work-life (ß = .395, P < .001), and indirectly affected quality of work-life via positive coping (ß = .186, P < .001), but not via negative coping (ß = .005, P > .05). The final model could explain 44% of the variance in the quality of work-life. CONCLUSION: Self-efficacy was positively correlated with quality of work-life among Chinese nursing managers, and positive coping partially mediated this relationship. The results suggest that self-efficacy and positive coping are pivotal facilitators for improving the quality of work-life and need to be taken into account in measures to improve the quality of work-life of nursing managers. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: Hospital administrators should recognize the importance of nursing managers' work-life quality to promote both the stability of nursing teams and the quality of clinical care and safety provided. They should help nursing managers foster self-efficacy and active coping abilities through incentive measures and provide positive coping training courses to enhance their quality of work-life.
