Factors Affecting the General Health of Hospital Nurses in the Decade (2007-2017 in Iran): A Meta-Analysis Study

Nurses constitute a large population of organizational workforce in the field of health. They experience a high level of job stress and workplace pressure. Therefore, paying attention to nurses’ health and reducing burnout, increase productivity, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Relying on meta-analysis method, this study seeks to investigate the factors related to the general health of nurses and measure the effect of each factor.

The method of this research is quantitative meta-analysis, which was carried out in the period of 2007-2017 with a sample size of 14 research documents. The statistical population of the study included all the studies conducted in Iran regarding the general health of nurses which have been published in scientific and research journals as IRANDOC, NORMAGS, and SID. The purposive sampling method was based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, as well as considering the validity and reliability of the research. Compliance with validity, reliability and quality of research; the existence of correlation coefficient, sample size and significant level of research has been the criteria for entering the research into the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Software version 2.

In this study, the lack of diffusion bias and homogeneity of the effect size were first confirmed. In terms of bias, most of the studies under review were sub-funnel, indicating no propagation error. Based on the results of the N-error-free test, 253 studies should be performed to question the results of the present study. The results of I2 also indicated that the research in this field was homogeneous. Based on the results of effect size, strengthening communication skills, followed by stress management group therapy, had the greatest role in improving the general health of nurses. Finally, it was found that the average effect size of various factors on the general health of nurses was 0.164.

It can be concluded that strengthening communication skills among nurses has an important role in improving their general health followed by group therapy. Stress management has the next highest effect size and is one of the most important factors related to improving the health of nurses.