Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

A cross-sectional assessment of health-related quality of life among healthcare providers in Alkharj, Saudi Arabia

Ahmed A Albassam, Muhammad Shahid Iqbal , Mohammad Ruhal Ain, Anwar Alotaibi, Abdullah Althemery, Abdullah Alfaifi

Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia;

For correspondence:- Muhammad Iqbal Email: m.javed@psau.edu.sa Tel:+966115886057

Accepted: 20 September 2020 Published: 30 October 2020

Citation: Albassam AA, Iqbal MS, Ain MR, Alotaibi A, Althemery A, Alfaifi A. A cross-sectional assessment of health-related quality of life among healthcare providers in Alkharj, Saudi Arabia. Trop J Pharm Res 2020; 19(10):2171-2177 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v19i10.22

© 2020 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To determine the current level of health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and evaluate factors influencing it among health-care providers (HCPs) in Alkharj, Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted among HCPs in Alkharj, Saudi Arabia, using the standardized research tool, BREF-WHOQOL. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed in hospitals, in the medical colleges of Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, and community pharmacies in Alkharj, Saudi Arabia. Descriptive, comparative, and inferential statistics were performed using SPSS.

Results: A total of 289 HCPs agreed to participate in the study, 52 % of whom were female. Most participants were married (69 %), and most had fewer than 10 years of experience (58 %). Statistically significant differences in marital status, education level, income, and year of practice were found that correlated with HCPs’ HRQoL (p ≤ 0.05). Overall, respondents reported an above-average score for all survey items.

Conclusion: The results indicate that HCPs see their general quality of life as good - a particularly important consideration in view of the demanding nature of their job. This study will help the concerned authorities to exactly know the current level of HRQoL among HCPs in Alkharj, Saudi Arabia, as well as help in designing better healthcare policies in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: Healthcare providers (HCP), Health-related quality of life (HRQoL), Healthcare policies, Occupational stress