Relationship of quality of life, psychopathologic symptoms and ways of coping in Greek nursing staff.

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to investigate the relationship of quality of life, psychopathological symptoms and ways of coping of nursing staff in two General Hospitals in Greece.

METHOD: This was a cross-sectional study of 302 nurses in two General Hospitals in Greece between October and November of 2015. Data collection was performed using three questionnaires; the World Health Organisation Quality Of Life BREF; the Falk Self-Reporting Questionnaire for the detection of possible psychiatric comorbidity and the Ways of Coping Scale for Stressful Situations.

RESULTS: From a sample of 302 nurses, the poorer the mental and physical health of the nursing staff, the more their quality of life was impaired in all dimensions (physical, psychological, social and environmental) (p<.001, p=.047, p=.001). Also, while the scores in coping strategies "Positive Approach-Positive reappraisal", "Positive Approach-problem solving" and "Positive Approach (overall)" rose, the score in the General Scale dropped, in other words, the employees' general health improved.

CONCLUSION: Coping strategies such as Positive Approach, improved the nurses' general health. In contrast, their mental health deteriorated when they adopted the Wishful thinking/Daydream and/or the Escape/Avoidance strategies. Finally, as their general health worsened, their quality of life was impaired in all dimensions, whereas poor mental health of nurses was associated with lower quality of life in the physical and psychological dimensions.