Correlation between Professional Quality of Life and Caring Behaviors in Nurses Working During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Aims: Caring for patients during the Covid-19 pandemic exposes nurses to both physical and emotional challenges. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between the professional quality of life and caring behaviors in nurses working during the Covid-19 pandemic. Instruments Methods: This cross-sectional and correlational study was conducted in 2022. The study population was all nurses working in selected hospitals of Iran University of Medical Sciences. 124 nurses working during the Covid-19 epidemic by using convenience method were selected. Data collected using the demographic and occupational information form, Stumm’s professional quality of life questionnaire, and Wolf’s caring behaviors of nurses’ questionnaire. All questionnaires were completed by self-report method. Data were analyzed by Spearman’s correlation coefficient, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, and linear regression tests using SPSS 22 software. Findings: The overall mean score of caring behaviors was 82.06±7.76, and the overall mean score of professional quality of life was 106.18±18.31. There was a significant and direct correlation between the professional quality of life and caring behaviors of nurses working in the Covid-19 epidemic (r=0.435; p 0.001). The linear regression method also showed a significant and direct linear relationship between the two variables. Conclusion: The professional quality of life is significantly and directly correlated with caring behaviors in nurses working during the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, improving the professional quality of life of employees can be effective in providing better and more quality care.