INTRODUCTION:

In healthcare organizations, quality of work life (QWL) has been described as referring to the strengths and weaknesses in the total work, leadership style, operations, and general contextual factors of the setting.

All these have a profound effect on how the staffs view the Quality of their Work Life. Because the perceptions held by employees play an important role in their decisions to enter, stay with or leave an organization, and it is important that staff perceptions be included when assessing QWL. Although job satisfaction is not QWL, perception of QWL is often assessed using job satisfaction surveys. As the largest single employee component of hospitals, nurses are critical to the functioning of the organization, and improving employee productivity continues to be a common theme in the health care literature. The Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation now includes Quality of Work Life as one of the four areas it assesses during the accreditation process. As a result, all accredited organizations are expected to take steps to measure, report, and act on Quality of Work Life indicators. Job satisfaction can be an important indicator of how employees feel about their jobs and a predictor of work behaviors such as organizational citizenship, absenteeism, and turnover. Further Job Satisfaction can partially mediate the relationship of personality variable and deviant behavior. Various studies have suggested that when care providers are satisfied, their patients are more likely to be contented (Kuokkanen-2003). Furthermore, nurses who are happy with their job, have a higher level of organizational commitment (Smith &Hood 2005). The two theories that have been important in the development of an understanding of job satisfaction in nursing are Maslow's Human Needs Theory and Herzberg and Mausner's Motivation-Hygiene Theory. Maslow identified two types of needs; deficiency needs (physical, safety and belonging) and growth needs (self-actualization and self esteem). Herzberg and Mausner’s' theory consists of intrinsic factors or 'motivators' that promote job satisfaction and extrinsic factors or 'hygiene factors' that cause dissatisfaction. The success of any organization is highly dependent on how it attracts recruits, motivates, and retains its workforce.. A study conducted by Academy for Nursing Studies, Hyderabad, 2005 for Training Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, found that the critical factors which affect the Indian nursing systems are shortage of staff, poor infrastructure and facilities, weak administrative structure, lack of systematic training programmes on the job or off the job, lack of autonomy and gender disparities.

According to Ms. Parul Sharma (2011) the quality of work life(QWL) is a wide term covering an immense variety of programmes, techniques, theories and management styles through which organizations and jobs are designed so as to grant employees more autonomy, responsibility and authority than is usually done. Choi J, Flynn L, Aiken LH. (2011), in their study they remarked that a supportive practice environment is significantly associated with higher job satisfaction among RNs working in nursing homes. Munoz de Bustillo Liorente et al. (2005) did a study on Job satisfaction as an indicator of the quality of work and found out the relation between the characteristics of the job performed and the level of subjective satisfaction of workers. QWL is an aspect which indicates us about the organization and its working environment and whether the employees are satisfied with their job or not.

OBJECTIVES:

· Assess the Quality of Work Life of nurses.

· Assess the level of Job Satisfaction of nurses.

· Find out the impact of Quality of Work Life on Job Satisfaction.

· Associate the Quality of Work Life with the selected demographic variables.

· Associate the level of Job Satisfaction with the selected demographic variables.

MATERIAL AND METHODS :

Research approach:

Non-experimental quantitative approach

Research design: Descriptive survey design

Setting of the study:

The study conducted in the Jubilee Mission Medical College Hospital, Thrissur, Kerala which is a 1500 bedded hospital always have a census of about 1200 inpatients.

Population:

Nurses who are working in the Jubilee Mission Medical College Hospital, Thrissur.

Sample:

300 Nurses who are working in the Jubilee Mission Medical College Hospital, Thrissur.

Sampling technique:

Simple random sampling technique is used to select samples.

Criteria for sample selection

Inclusion criteria

1. Nurses who are working for more than a period of six months

2. Both diploma and degree nurses.

3. Nurses who are willing to participate in the study.

Exclusion criteria:

1. Nurses who are working as interns.

2. .Nurses who are working as assistant nurses.

Data collection tools and techniques:

A structured questionnaire was developed for assessing the quality of work life and job satisfaction of nurses. The tool was developed by extensive review of research and non – research literature, taking opinion of experts and the investigator’s professional experience into consideration. The structured questionnaire consisted of three sections.

Section I comprised items seeking information on demographic data such as sex, age, marital status, education, department in which the nurses are working and the experience with the current employer.

Section II composed of 24 questions covering the following content areas in Quality Work Life, i.e. Work Environment, Team Work and Co-operation, Corporate Culture, Training Program and Health and Safety Policies

Section III composed of 23 questions covering the following content areas in Job Satisfaction: i.e. Working Condition, Safety and Security of Job ,Career Development, Relationship with the Immediate Supervisor, and Benefits.

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY:

To ensure the content validity, the tool (structured questionnaire) was submitted to four experts of the Medicine, Nursing and Administration Department. There was 100% agreement on the structured questionnaire. Reliability was checked by administering the tool to36 subjects.. Split-half method was used to estimate the Reliability. The tool has got two sections. The obtained Reliability of the first section of tool, using Spearman Browns Formula was r = 0.73 and the second section of tool, using Spearman Browns Formula was r = 0.80.

Pilot study:

After obtaining formal administrative approval, the pilot study was conducted in different departments of the Hospital. Thirty six nurses from twelve different wards were selected for pilot study by the simple random sampling techniques. Findings of the pilot study revealed that it was feasible to conduct the study and criterion measures were found to be effective. The plan of statistical analysis too was determined. The plan for data collection remained the same as for the pilot study because the investigator did not face any problem while conducting the pilot study.

Procedure for data collection:

Written permission was sought from the Director and Medical Superintendent and permission was granted for the same. Data were collected within the given period. Self introduction and information to the nature of the study were given to the nurses, so as to get co-operation in the procedure of the data collection and 3months were taken for data collection. Simple random sampling technique was used to obtain an adequate size of the sample. The sample comprised of 300 nurses who are working in different departments i.e. 25 nurses from 12 departments. A structured questionnaire is used to collect the data to assess the Quality of Work Life and Job Satisfaction which got III sections. The data were analyzed and interpreted in terms of objectives and Null Hypothesis. Descriptive and Inferential Statistics were utilized for the Data analysis.

MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY AND DISCUSSION:

In this study75.67% were females and 24.33% were males. Majority of the nurses were unmarried (64.67%) and 84.33% were in the age group of 21to 30years. Most of the nurses are diploma holders (77.67%) and 47.33% of the samples worked more than two years with the current employer. The first objective was to assess the Quality of Work Life of nurses, and in this the Quality of Work Life in relation to Work Environment shown that 30.67% out of 300 samples ‘strongly agreed’ about the present situation, 61% are in the level of ‘agree’,7.33% are in the level of ‘do not know’and1% in the level of ‘disagree’ and nobody in the ‘strongly disagree’ level. About the Team Work & Co-operation, 65% samples ‘agreed’ that there is Good Team Work and Co-operation and 3.67% of the total samples disagreed. Related to the Corporate Culture out of the total samples 57.00% are in the level of ‘agree’ and only 2.67% are in the level of ‘disagree’ level. Related to the Training Program, 57.67%of the total samples are in the level of ‘agree’ and only 2.66% in the level of ‘disagree’, and nobody in ‘disagree’ level. Regarding Health and Safety Policies 48.33% of the total sample are ‘agreed’ and only 9.34% of the samples were ‘disagreed’.

Table:1 Overall level of quality of work life of the nurses (n=300)

Sl. No.	Subject	Maximum score	Mean Score	Std Deviation
1.	Work Environment	25	19.54	2.69
2	Team Work & Cooperation	20	16.10	2.30
3.	Corporate Culture	20	15.01	2.89
4.	Training Programmes	25	18.85	3.50
5.	Health And Safety Policies	30	20.56	5.21
	Over all	120	90.06	13.12

The above table shows that the Quality of Work Life 300 nurses related to the work environment lies in the range 19.54±2.69, team work & cooperation lies in the range 16.10±2.30, corporate culture lies in the range15.01±2.89, training programmes lies in the range18.85±3.50 and health and safety policies lies in the range 20.56±5.21. The Mean Quality of Work Life Score of the Overall items is90.06 with an SD of ±13.12.

Level of job satisfaction of nurses:

Second objective was to assess the level of Job Satisfaction among nurses and in this the Job Satisfaction of the nurses related to the Working Condition, 22% of the total sample are ‘strongly agreed’, 57% are in the level of ‘agree’,18%are in the level of ‘do not know ‘and 3% in the level of ‘disagree’ and nobody in the ‘strongly disagree’ level. Regarding Safety and Security of Job 26.33% of the total sample are ‘strongly agreed’52% are in the level of ‘agree’16% are in the level of ‘do not know ‘and 5.67% in the level of ‘disagree’ and nobody in the ‘strongly disagree’ level. Related to Career Development 26.67% of the total sample are ‘strongly agreed’,59% are in the level of ‘agree’,12% are in the level of ‘do not know ‘and 2.33% in the level of ‘disagree’ and nobody in the ‘strongly disagree’ level . Related to the Relationship with the Immediate Supervisor 25% of the total sample are ‘strongly agreed’,60% are in the level of ‘agree’,12% are in the level of ‘do not know ‘and 2.66% in the level of ‘disagree’ and 0.33 are in the level of ‘strongly disagree’. Regarding ’Benefits’ 13.33% of the total sample are ‘strongly agreed’,43.33% are in the level of ‘agree’,16.67% are in the level of ‘do not know ‘and 26.67% in the level of ‘disagree’ and nobody in the ‘strongly disagree’ level’

Table: 2 Overall level of job satisfaction (n=300)

Sl. No.	Subject	Maximum score	Mean Score	Std Deviation
1.	Working Condition	25	18.25	3.60
2.	Safety and Security of Job	25	18.34	4.23
3.	Career Development	20	15.23	2.73
4.	Relationship with the Immediate Supervisor	20	15.56	2.83
5.	Benefits	25	15.49	5.59
	Over all	115	82.87	15.30

The above table shows the average score of the total sample subjects in Quality of Work Life is 90.07 with an SD of ± 13.12 and the average score of the total sample subjects in the level of job satisfaction is 82.87 with an SD of ±15.30. The Correlation Coefficient between the Quality of Work Life of nurses and level of Job Satisfaction is+ 0.78 (+0.8).

Impact of quality of work life on job satisfaction:

The third objective was to find out the impact of Quality of Work Life on Job Satisfaction.

Table: 3 Impact of quality of work life on job satisfaction

Subject	Mean Score	SD	Correlation(r)
Quality work life of nurses	90.07	13.12	0.78
Level of Job satisfaction	82.87	15.30	0.78

Out of the 300 samples the average score of the total sample subjects in Quality of Work Life is 90.06 with an SD of ± 13.12 and the average score of the total sample subjects in the level of Job Satisfaction is 82.87 with an SD of ±15.30 The Correlation Coefficient between the Quality of Work Life of nurses and level of Job Satisfaction is + 0.8, since SD is very high there is a lot of variation among the Quality of Work Life of nurses and level of Job Satisfaction. There is a strong positive correlation between the Quality of Work Life of nurses and level of Job Satisfaction; that is when the Quality of Work Life increases the level of Job Satisfaction also increases. Hence we reject the null hypothesis i.e. there will not be significant impact of Quality of Work Life on Job Satisfaction. The nature of correlation between the Job Satisfaction and QWL dimensions reveal that the Quality of Work Life significantly contribute towards increasing Job Satisfaction.Daniel A. Ondrack Martin G. Evans ((1986) in their study found that the Quality of Working Life (QWL) programs are designed to increase the enrichment of jobs, the autonomy of workers, and the degree of collaboration among workers and between workers. In the fourth and fifth objectives i.e. to associate the Quality of Work Life with the selected demographic variables and to associate the level of Job Satisfaction with the selected demographic variables; there is Significant Association (P<0.95) between Marital Status and their Quality of Work Life. Whereas there is No Significant Association found between the other Demographic Variables and the Quality of Work Life. There is No Significant Association found between the Demographic Variables and their level of their Job Satisfaction

CONCLUSION:

To improve Job Satisfaction, more attention should be paid to improve the Quality of Work Life. Quality of Work Life comprise so many factors and in this study specifically considered Work Environment, Team Work and Co-operation ,Corporate Culture, Training Program, Health and Safety Policies. Job Satisfaction Variables are Working Condition, Safety and Security of Job, Career Development, and Relationship with Immediate Supervisor, and Benefits. The findings suggest that there is a positive and significant relationship between Quality of Work Life of nurses and their Job Satisfaction, that is, when the Quality of Work Life increases the level of Job Satisfaction also increases thereby improving the well-being of the employee and the employer.

REFERENCES:

1. Cho. J, Flynn, L., Aiken, LH RN. (2011). Nursing Practice Environment and Registered Nurses' Job Satisfaction in Nursing Homes: National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators.

2. Meenakshi Gupta., Ms. Parul Sharma. (2011). Factor credentials boosting quality of work life of BSNL employees in Jammu region. APJRBM. 2(1):79

3. Rafael Munoz De Bustillo Llorente. (2005). Job Satisfaction As an Indicator Of The Quality Of Work: The Journal Of Socio-Economics, 34 (2005) 656–673.

Received on 13.07.2016 Modified on 22.08.2016

Int. J. Adv. Nur. Management. 2016; 4(4): 345-348.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2652.2016.00077.9