Investigation of Quiet Quitting and Professional Quality of Life Among Nursing Staff at a General Hospital: A Single-Site Cross-Sectional Study.

Background/

Objectives

Quiet quitting and reduced professional quality of life pose risks to organizations, as employee performance may be reduced. This study assessed quiet quitting and professional quality of life among nurses at a public general hospital in Greece.

Methods

A single-site cross-sectional study recruited 119 nursing staff from a public general hospital in Greece between January and March 2025. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 25.0. Demographic and work characteristics were analyzed using absolute and relative frequency distributions. Comparisons among subscale scores were made using the Kruskal-Wallis test, and associations with participant characteristics were examined using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Multiple linear regression analyzed the relationships between the three ProQOL-30 subscales, the Quiet Quitting Scale, and nursing staff characteristics, with p < 0.05.

Results

Of the 119 nursing staff, 84.9% were women, and 49.6% were 50 or older. Quiet quitting was moderate to low, with lack of motivation significantly higher than lack of initiative and detachment-indifference (p < 0.001). Compassion satisfaction was higher than burnout and secondary traumatic stress (p < 0.001). Lack of motivation was higher among nurses with children, more years of experience, or managerial responsibilities (p < 0.05). Compassion satisfaction was associated with lower total quiet quitting (unstandardized β = -6.23, p < 0.001), while burnout was associated with higher total quiet quitting (β = 4.54, p < 0.001). Neither compassion satisfaction nor burnout was related to staff characteristics. Secondary traumatic stress was associated with female gender (β = 4.92, p = 0.004) and higher total quiet quitting (β = 3.40, p = 0.001).

Conclusions

Reducing workload, improving organizational support, and enhancing working conditions may represent promising strategies for supporting nurses' professional quality of life and reducing occupational disengagement.