Association between Management Care Perception and Professional Quality of Life among Intensive Care Unit Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

Purpose. The study aims to determine the correlation between management care perception and the professional quality of life of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses in China and examine the influencing factors. Design and Methods. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with 486 ICU nurses (response rate: 97.2%) from five tertiary hospitals in China from 1 January to 31 July, 2022, by convenience sampling. Data were collected through the general information questionnaire, the management care assessment scale, and the professional quality of life scale. Findings. The score of management care perception of ICU nurses was (132.24 ± 28.04), and the scores of compassion satisfactory, compassion fatigue, and burnout of professional quality of life were (37.54 ± 7.73), (20.80 ± 6.49), and (17.79 ± 5.14), respectively. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that age and the total score of managed care were positively correlated with the score of compassion satisfaction dimension (β = 1.62, 0.19) and that the total score of perceived management care was negatively correlated with the score of compassion fatigue and job burnout (β = −0.04, −0.07). ICU nurses’ perceived level of managerial care was at a moderate level. The younger the nurse and the less managerial care they perceived, the lower their job satisfaction and the greater the burnout. Practice Implications. ICU nurses’ perceptions of management care and professional quality of life are at a medium level, and a significant correlation exists between them. Therefore, measures to improve the professional quality of life should be taken. Nursing administrators are obliged to actively create a good atmosphere of management care, reduce the job burnout of ICU nurses, improve their professional quality of life, optimise the quality of nursing service, and stabilise the nursing team.