effect of physical activity on the quality of life of emergency room nurses working in public hospitals

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of physical activity on the quality of life of emergency room nurses working in public hospitals. The sample for the preliminary research consisted of 476 nurses, working in emergency rooms in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Health Regions of Greece. The participants’ ages ranged from 22 to 60 years (age 42.49 ± 9.5 years). The latter completed questionnaires where the quality of life and physical activity were assessed. The questionnaire SF12 was used – a questionnaire developed as a shorter alternative solution to the questionnaire SF36 (Ware & Sherbourne 1992). Furthermore, for the assessment of physical activity, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (short version) was used (Craig, et. al., 2003). The results of statistical analysis showed that nurses’ quality of life level was low, and the majority of nurses displayed a low level of physical activity. Also, according to the post-hoc Scheffe test, physical activity is directly correlated to the quality of life, because it positively affects physical and mental health indicators - F(2,473), p < .05. We conclude that physical activity helps to improve the quality of life parameters, improving physical and mental health indicators.