Page 215 - GHES-3-1

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Fatigue, quality of life, and social support in

Greek health staff: Public versus private kidney
units

1†
2
Gesthimani Chatzimanolaki , Vassiliki Nikolopoulou , and
1†
Paraskevi Theofilou *
1 School of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University, Patra, Greece
2 Department of Social Administration, Program of Health Services Administration, National School
of Public Administration and Local Government, Athens, Greece

Abstract

Healthcare professionals often experience fatigue and a diminished quality of life
due to demanding hours and challenges in balancing work and personal life. Social
support plays a critical role in influencing these factors. This study focused on nurses
and healthcare workers in the artificial kidney unit, a specialized area requiring
† These authors contributed equally
to this work. significant expertise to operate complex machinery for seriously ill patients. We
assessed levels of fatigue, social support, and quality of life among 159 doctors and
Academic editor: nurses in public and private facilities across Greece using the Fatigue Assessment
Mihajlo Jakovljevic M.D. Ph.D. MAE
Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and General Health
*Corresponding author: Questionnaire-28. Participants reported moderate fatigue (mean = 2.63, standard
Paraskevi Theofilou
(theofilou.paraskevi@ac.eap.gr) deviation [SD] = 0.57 for doctors; mean = 2.42, SD = 0.49 for nurses) and moderate-
to-high levels of social support (mean = 5.66, SD = 1.35). Factors negatively
Citation: Chatzimanolaki, G.,
Nikolopoulou, V., & Theofilou, P. impacting quality of life, such as physical symptoms, anxiety, social dysfunction, and
(2025). Fatigue, quality of life, and severe depression, yielded low scores. Notably, fatigue and quality of life differed
social support in Greek health staff: significantly between public and private sectors (p < 0.05), with public sector
Public versus private kidney units.
Global Health Econ Sustain, professionals reporting higher fatigue levels and lower quality of life. These findings
3(1):207-221. highlight the need for healthcare authorities to address the unique challenges faced
https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.4574 by staff in artificial kidney units, particularly in public hospitals, to improve working
Received: August 19, 2024 conditions and overall well-being.
Revised: September 15, 2024
Accepted: October 8, 2024 Keywords: Fatigue; Social support; Quality of life; Artificial kidney unit; Dialysis unit
Published online: November 8,
2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). 1. Introduction
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the Studies on healthcare professionals working in artificial kidney units emphasize an
Creative Commons Attribution important area of research interest. These units are critical reception centers for patients
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, with kidney failure, but they also present challenges for the doctors and nurses working
provided the original work is in them. Research in this area can provide valuable insights for improving working
properly cited. conditions and protecting the health of workers in the sector. In this context, social
Publisher’s Note: AccScience support plays a key role. Social support is defined as help from others that a person can
Publishing remains neutral with sense, understand, observe, or accept. This environmental resource serves as a protective
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional factor for individuals experiencing stressful life events and promotes their physical and
affiliations. mental health. For instance, a supportive network mitigates the possibility of depression

Volume 3 Issue 1 (2025) 207 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.4574