Quality of Work Life among Nurse Practitioners Working at Primary Care Setting in Thailand

Abstract

Nurse Practitioners (NPs) as the largest group of health care providers working at primary care
setting should enjoy a satisfactory quality of working life and be able to provide quality care to their
patients. However, reliable information on the quality of work life (QWL) of nurse practitioners working
at primary care setting is limited. This study aimed to assess the QWL of nurse practitioners working at
primary care setting in Thailand. Through purposive sampling, this cross-sectional study was distributed to
152 nurse practitioners from a province in Southern Thailand. The overall response rate was 67.1% (n = 102).
The data-gathering instrument consisted of two parts. The first part consisted of questions on demographic
information and the second part was the Brooks’ survey of Quality of Nursing Work Life questionnaire. Data
were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, and one way ANOVA.
The results of the study showed that NPs’ quality of work life was at the moderate level. It was
found that NPs with master education level reported a better QWL than those with bachelor education level
(p= 0.01). One way ANOVA test was used and found significant differences between monthly salary and
QWL score (p= 0.00). Post-hoc tests showed that there were significant differences between the QWL of
NPs with monthly salary more than 35,000 THB and those with a monthly salary lower than 25,000 THB
(p= 0.00) or a monthly salary between 25,000-35,000 THB (p= 0.01). Also, t-test was used and found
significant differences between the QWL scores of NPs with different location of workplace (p= 0.02). As
quality of work life has an important impact on attracting and retaining employees, it is necessary to pay
more attention to the nurses’ quality of work life and it’s related factors. The results of this study can be
used as baseline information for the health policy maker to develop strategies to improve quality of work
life of nurse practitioner in order to maintain an adequate workforce at primary care setting.