Page 217 - GHES-3-1

Global Health Economics and
Sustainability
Fatigue, quality of life, and social support in Greek health staff

and practical support, such as providing resources for consent form included in the appendix. It was emphasized
work, may be directly linked to the commitment that that their data would be kept confidential and that absolute
nurses develop toward their work environment. Therefore, anonymity would be maintained. Moreover, the data
promoting collective support in hemodialysis units is were used exclusively for the purposes of this research.
essential. However, the study did not find corresponding Participation was completely voluntary, and respondents
results regarding the support employees receive from their could withdraw from completing the questionnaire at any
friends or family. This may be related to the lack of shared time they wished.
experiences, which can make it difficult to express and The following were the inclusion criteria:
share essential feelings due to the demands of daily work • Participants must work as doctors or nurses in
in artificial kidney units (Cao & Chen, 2019). the artificial kidney unit for at least 1 year before
Although there are various studies on fatigue, quality completing the questionnaire.
of life, and social support among healthcare staff, the • Participants should work in either the private or public
number of studies investigating these variables among sector.
health professionals working in artificial kidney units, • Participants must work in an artificial kidney unit in
particularly in Greece, is extremely limited. Greece.

Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the levels 2.2. Instruments
of fatigue, social support, and quality of life of health Four types of research tools were used in this study. (1) Social/
professionals working in artificial kidney units in public demographic data: this section consists of 10 questions
and private hospitals in Greece. regarding demographic data (such as gender and age) and
The questions posed for this study are as follows: occupational data (such as years of service and whether
1) What are the fatigue levels of health professionals the participant works in a public or private hospital). (2)
working in artificial kidney units? Fatigue assessment: the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS),
2) What are the social support networks of health developed by Michielsen et al. (2003), was used to evaluate
professionals working in artificial kidney units? fatigue levels. This scale consists of 10 questions answered
3) What are the levels of quality of life for health on a 5-point Likert scale (from 1 indicating “never” to 5
professionals working in artificial kidney units? indicating “always”). The reliability and validity of this
4) Is there any difference in fatigue, social support, and tool have been examined in Greece, indicating very good
quality of life between health professionals working in psychometric properties (Alikari et al., 2016; Zyga et al.,
artificial kidney units in public and private hospitals? 2015). (3) Evaluation of social support: social support was
evaluated using the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived
2. Methods Social Support (MSPSS) questionnaire (Zimet et al., 1988),
2.1. Study design which consists of 12 questions answered on a 7-point Likert
scale (from 1 indicating “I strongly disagree” to 7 indicating
This study utilized a quantitative cross-sectional approach. “I strongly agree”). Its subscales are as follows: significant
Specifically, it was conducted through the distribution other (questions 1, 2, 5, and 10), family (questions 3, 4, 8,
of questionnaires to health professionals (doctors and and 11), and friends (questions 6, 7, 9, and 12). The MSPSS
nurses). Data were collected using two methods. The has been translated and validated for the Greek population
first method involved distributing paper questionnaires by Paraskevi Theofilou (Theofilou, 2015; Theofilou et al.,
to artificial kidney units in Attica. In the units where 2013). (4) Quality of life assessment: the General Health
the questionnaire was distributed in paper form, special Questionnaire (GHQ)-28, developed by Goldberg &
permission was requested from each hospital before Hillier (1979), was used to evaluate quality of life. This
distribution and completion by the participants. The scale consists of 28 questions answered on a 4-point Likert
second method involved distributing the questionnaire scale (from 0 indicating “not at all” to 3, depending on
in electronic form, both in the artificial kidney units in the question, where a score closer to 0 indicates better
Attica and in various regions of Greece. The convenience quality of life). It is divided into the following four factors:
sampling method was employed, meaning that the sample physical symptoms, anxiety/insomnia, social dysfunction,
was selected because the researcher had easy access to it. and major depression (Goldberg et al., 1997). The GHQ-
The study population comprised all health professionals 28 has been translated into Greek and validated in the
working in artificial kidney units in both public hospitals Greek population (Garyfallos et al., 1991). For academic
and private clinics. Respondents were informed about the purposes, these three questionnaires may be used free of
purpose of the study and ethical considerations through the charge.

Volume 3 Issue 1 (2025) 209 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.4574