The moderating role of coping styles on the associations of fatigue with life satisfaction in Chinese nurses: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Fatigue affects nurses negatively and may influence life satisfaction. According to the stress process model, active coping might influence the impact of adverse conditions such as fatigue on well-being measures such as life satisfaction. However, no research examined the associations among nurses' fatigue, coping styles, and life satisfaction. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted in Liaoning Province, China. 482 effective questionnaires were collected (effective response rate of 80.3%). The questionnaire included Fatigue Scale-14, Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire and Satisfaction with Life Scale. The association among fatigue, coping styles and fatigue × coping styles interaction with life satisfaction was examined by hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The interaction was visualized by simple slope analysis. RESULTS: Mean score of life satisfaction was 22.74 ± 6.11. Active coping moderated the relationship between mental fatigue and life satisfaction. The impacts of mental fatigue on life satisfaction gradually decreased in the low (1 SD below the mean, ß=-0.400, P < 0.001), mean (ß=-0.312, P < 0.001), and high (1 SD above the mean, ß=-0.224, P < 0.001) groups of active coping. CONCLUSION: The life satisfaction of Chinese nurses was relatively low. Active coping could alleviate the impact of mental fatigue on life satisfaction. Developing active coping styles might be a crucial strategy to alleviate nurses' mental fatigue and improve life satisfaction.