A study of the relationship between professional values and ethical climate and nurses’ professional quality of life in Iran

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between nursing professional values and ethical climate and nurses’ professional quality of life. METHODS: The present study is a descriptive, cross-sectional work in which 400 nurses from various wards of hospitals in the south-east of Iran were studied. Data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of four sections: demographics, Nurses’ Professional Values Scale-Revised (NPVS-R), the Hospital Ethical Climate Survey (HECS), and the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL). RESULTS: The total mean scores for professional values were 105.29 ± 15.60. The total mean score for the ethical climate was 100.09 ± 17.11. The mean scores for the indexes of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress were 45.29 ± 8.93, 34.38 ± 6.84, and 32.15 ± 7.02 respectively. The relationships between professional values and the indexes of compassion satisfaction (r = 0.56), burnout (r = 0.26), and secondary traumatic stress (r = 0.18) were found to be positive and significant (P < 0.001). Also, the relationships between ethical climate and the items of compassion satisfaction (r = 0.60, P < 0.001), burnout (r = 0.15, P = 0.002) were found to be positive and significant. CONCLUSION: An understanding of nurses’ perception of professional values and improving the ethical climate at work can help nursing administrators identify more effective strategies toward increasing compassion satisfaction and lessening burnout and work-related stress.