Relationships Between Managerial and Organizational Practices, Psychological Health at Work, and Quality of Care in Pediatric Oncology.

PURPOSE: Psychological health at work for care providers is an important issue, because they are directly involved in quality of patient care. Managerial and organizational determinants have been found to be indicators of psychological health at work. The main objective of this study was to explore the relationships between the psychological health at work of pediatric oncology care workers with managerial and organizational determinants and with quality of care.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed regression analysis between psychological health at work (quality of work life [QWL], job satisfaction, and so on), managerial determinants (transformational leadership, perceived autonomy support), organizational determinants (organizational support, organizational justice, and participatory approach), and perceived quality of care.
RESULTS: Participants were 510 health care professionals working in French pediatric oncology centers. No significant differences in the psychological health at work of the participants were found based on age, sex, length of employment, or professional discipline. In simple regression, significant associations were found between psychological health at work with all managerial and organizational determinants. In multiple regression, a significant link was found between QWL and perceived organizational support (β = .21; P < .001), organizational justice (β = .20, P < .001), and overall participatory approach (β = .10; P < .02). Job satisfaction was also related to perceived organizational support (β = .16; P < .01). Finally, perceived quality of care was linked to QWL (β = .15; P < .01) and job satisfaction (β = .30; P < .001).
CONCLUSION: These results emphasize the importance of the role of managers and the organization in psychological health at work of health care providers and also in the quality of patient care.