Association Between the Marital Status and Work-Related Quality of Life Among in Health Care Workers

Methods: This study was an observational type of cross-sectional survey. 50 HCWs were include between the age of 20-40 who had no comorbid conditions. After taking approval from ERC of RIHS the study was conducted at Rawal Institute of Health Sciences and Holy family Hospital, Rawalpindi from June 2022 to Jan 30, 2023. Two groups were formulated on the basis of marital status of participants. Single HCWs were included in Group A (n=19) whereas married in group B (n=31). Man, Whitney U test for between groups analysis was carried out to �nd the relationship among marital status, PSS and WRQoL. Level of signi�cance was <0.05 and CI=95%. Results: Mean and Standard deviation of age in group A was 29.53 ± 7.28 and in group B it was 30.39 ± 6.09. Man, Whitney U test showed insigni�cant difference (p>0.05) between PSS and marital status but there was a signi�cant difference (p<0.05) on WRQoL on the basis of marital status. Conclusions: It was concluded that married HCWs had low QoL as compared to single workers. But level of stress was also high in married workers on the basis of percentages.

stress scale (PSS) to measure the association between marital status and these variables.The level of signi cance in this study was set as p<0.05 and con dence interval (CI) 95%.

M E T H O D S
been ignored from the very rst day as a cause of stress [15].This along with gender difference remained controversial with respect to perception of stress in health professionals.[16,17].How the quality of life and stress is kept on heightening in these workers have not been investigated so far.The main objective of this study was to observe the effect of marital status on occupational tasks of health care workers in term of their quality of life and stress level.No single study has investigated the perceived level of stress among health care workers which affect their occupational tasks.Study results of this study will help to understand the social status of their married or single life and will help to support these workers in coping or management of their stress and how to support them in improving their quality of life.
This was an observational type of study.After getting approval from Ethical Review Committee of RIHS, it was conducted at Rawal Institute of Health Sciences, Islamabad and Holy family Hospital Rawalpindi from June 2022 to January 30, 2023.Duration of this study was of seven months.Participants were informed about the purpose of this study and their written informed consent was taken.They were taken into con dence that their identity will be concealed, and no breach of con dentiality will be done in this study.Participants between 20-40 years of age were included who had no co-morbidity of any kind.Those individuals who had any kind of mental health issues or comorbidity were excluded from study.Sample size was calculated by WHO calculator which was 50.On the basis of inclusion criteria two groups were formulated on the basis of their marital status of participants.Group A was named to those who were single whereas married participants were included in group B. These individuals were given the WRQoL (Work related quality of life) Questionnaire which contain 23 items in it.WRQoL is polymetric scale with six sub-scale items in it e.g., general well-being (GWB), Homework interface (HWI), Job and work Satisfaction (JWS ), Control at work (CAW), Working conditions (WCS) and Stress at work (SAW) and Perceived Stress Scale which contain 10 items in it.Both of these scales are measure on ve score Likert Scale.Data were analyzed by the use of SPSS version 21.0.Normality of data was checked by Shapiro Wilk test.As p<0.05 which revealed our data was non normally distributed.Therefore, we employed nonparametric test for between single and married individuals to compare the effects of their marital status on PSS and WRQoL.Demographic data were depicted in the form of frequency and test mean and Standard deviation was used for descriptive statistics.Mann was done between marital status and quality of like and perceived

R E S U L T S
There were 8(42.1%)were individuals between age group of 20-25 and 09(29.1%)were of married in group A and B respectively.Between age group of 26-30, 31-35 and 36-40  the frequency (%) of single participants were 01(5.3),  04(21.1) and 06(31.5%)whereas in married participants it was 05(16.5%),09(28.8%)and 08(25.6% in each group respectively.Mean and Standard deviation of age in group A was 29.53 ± 7.28 and in group B it was 30.39 ± 6.09.Only 09(47.4%)were males in in group A and in group B it was13(41.9%).The frequency and percentages of occupation in both groups are depicted in 1.

D I S C U S S I O N
The Mean Rank (MR) of PSS in group A was 24.63 whereas in Group B it was 26.03.WRQOL subgroup GWD, HWI, JCS, CAW, WCS, SAW and total score mean rank was 34.05, 29.58, 32.21, 28.50, 25.82, 25.79 and 32.84 in group A with p>0.05 in all subgroups except GWD and total score of WRQOL (p<0.05) which revealed that marital status affects the quality of life of married individuals and those who are married has low quality of life as compared to single individuals.But level of stress in both groups is same as p>0.05 which showed insigni cant difference between both groups (Table 3).

PSS
were married individuals had 0.8(25.6%) in mild level, 18(55.5) in moderate stress level and 06(19.2%) in severe stress.In married individuals the severe stress level (19.2%) was high as compared to single (15.9%) individuals.Whereas moderate level of stress was greater in single individuals (62.6%) as compared to married (55.5%) healthcare workers.This demonstrated that those healthcare workers who are married has higher susceptibility of severe stress as compared to single healthcare workers.Work related quality of life (QoL) in healthcare workers showed that single HCWs had higher quality of life as compared to the married HCWs.When GWB (general well-being) which is sub-scale of WRQOL was assessed in single HCWs it was revealed that out of 19 total workers 09(47.4%) of workers the QoL was low, 01(5.2%) had average QoL and 09(47.4%)whereas in married HCWs 27(87%) had low QoL score, 02(6.5%) had an average QoL whereas 02(6.5%) had high QoL.This comparison of GWB on the basis of marital status showed that married HCWs had low QoL (87%) as compared to single workers (47.4%).A study conducted in dental graduates to observe the relationship between marital status and their level of stress [18].The result of our study is supported by Shetty et al., study that married workers experience more stress as compared to those HCWs who are single.The more interesting thing about our study is that the WRQoL level with respect to HWI, CAW, WCS and SAW were same in both individuals but the general well-being (GWB), Job Career Satisfaction (JCS) and overall WRQoL in single HCWs is higher as compared to the married workers.A study on medical post graduate students was carried out to evaluate their level of stress regarding their job or career insecurities and their future concern [19].It was  The result of this study also positively reinforces our results that HCWs had higher level of stress.The WRQoL which we measured in our study depicted that the married HCWs had lower quality of life as compared to the single workers (p<0.05).the level of stress in both groups had depicted no signi cant difference.So, it is concluded that PSS is same in both single and married Healthcare -workers but work -related QoL in single HCWs is higher as to those who had marital status of married.Research conducted in dental graduates by Ghafoor et al., to evaluate the effects of marital status and its impact as an indicator of stress in post graduate students [20].The results of this study support our study that married workers are more stressed than single one.

Table 1 :
Demographic data

Table 3 :
Association between marital Status and PSS and WRQoL

Single) Group B (Married)
demonstrated that clinical had higher level of stress and work pressure or burnout as compared to academic PGTs.