Influence of the Shifting Work Schedule on the Well-Being and Work Engagement of Staff Nurses

Abstract

This study determined the influence of shifting work schedules on the well-being and work engagement of staff nurses in Level II hospitals in Quezon Province and developed enhanced scheduling guidelines based on the findings. A quantitative descriptive design incorporating survey, evaluative, comparative, and correlational approaches was used. The participants were 175 regular staff nurses from seven Level II hospitals selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected using a researcher-developed questionnaire that measured physical, emotional, social, and mental well-being and work engagement. Expert validation and pilot testing established good to excellent reliability across the domains (Cronbach’s alpha = .808–.946). Frequency, percentage, weighted arithmetic mean, Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis H, Dunn–Bonferroni post hoc procedures, and Spearman’s rho were applied using SPSS. Nurses reported positive well-being, with emotional well-being receiving the highest mean (M = 3.41), followed by social (M = 3.25), mental (M = 3.19), and physical well-being (M = 2.93). Work engagement was high in the social (M = 3.45), mental (M = 3.36), and emotional domains (M = 3.33), while physical engagement was rated engaged (M = 3.13). No significant differences in well-being or engagement were found across age, sex, civil status, family income, length of experience, unit assignment, or 8- and 12-hour shifts. Several weak but significant positive relationships linked specific engagement and well-being domains. The findings indicate that nurse well-being and engagement are interconnected and support fair shift distribution, protected recovery periods, fatigue monitoring, collaborative scheduling, and experience-sensitive assignments through the proposed Enhanced Scheduling Guidelines for Nurses.