Evaluation of General Health and Sleep Quality of Nurses at Training Hospitals of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in 2018

Nurses are prone to a variety of sleep disorders due to the nature of their job and different work shifts. This study aimed to evaluate the general health and sleep quality of fixed and rotating shift nurses at training hospitals of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences in 2018.

This descriptive and analytical study was performed on 250 nurses selected using the convenience method. Data were collected using the general health questionnaire (GHQ-28) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). In addition, data analysis was performed in SPSS version 20 using Chi-square, Fisher’s exact test, independent t-test, and one-way ANOVA.

In this study, the mean age of participants was 31.94±5.17. Overall, 140 participants (56%) had a favorable general health status. In addition, 227 nurses (90.8%) had unfavorable sleep quality while only 23 participants (9.2%) had favorable sleep quality. The results were indicative of a significant relationship between nurses’ sleep quality and their general health level (P<0.007). Moreover, a significant correlation was found between sleep quality and the variables of age (P<0.001), work experience (P<0.002), work shifts (P<0.0001), and type of employment (P=0.012). Furthermore, a significant difference was observed between the general health of the participants and the variables of marital status (P<0.0001), work shifts (P<0.0001), and type of employment (P<0.0001).

According to the results of the study, unfavorable sleep quality had a negative effect on the general health of nurses. Therefore, it is recommended that regular programs be designed by hospital officials to monitor nurseschr('39') sleep quality.