2011 Volume 19 Issue 4 Pages 302-312
Objective: The purpose of this article was to examine the relationship between work-life balance (WLB) and the mental health of nurses in a hospital in Japan.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Self-administered questionnaires were provided to 590 nurses. Of total, 456 nurses (effective response rate 77.3%) were analyzed. The WLB index was defined as the discrepancy between desired and actual balance of work and home life. To measure mental health condition, K6 was used. When K6 was transformed into dichotomous data, cut-off point of 9 was used. To assess the relationship between the WLB index and mental health condition, a logistic regression analysis was used.
Results: Only 8.6% of 456 nurses reported that they knew WLB. In the distribution of time consumed for work and home life, no difference was observed between the nurses who had low WLB index and high WLB index. The nurses having high WLB index (n=350) had the significant (p=0.006) higher percentage (31.1%) of feeling richness in the life than ones having low WLB (n=106) (16.9%). The WLB index (odds ratio (OR): 0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.38- 0.91), the Health Practical Index (OR:0.29, 95%CI: 0.16- 0.51), and support from superiors and colleagues (OR: 0.41, 95%CI: 0.23- 0.75) had significant association with mental health condition.
Conclusions: The awareness rate of WLB was low among the participants. WLB may have significant correlation with mental health of nurses in a hospital in Japan.
