Professional Quality of Life and Turnover Intention Among Perinatal Nurses in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Stacey E Iobst; Joyce K Edmonds; Rachel Blankstein Breman; Mark Walker; Natasha I Best; Yunwei Cui

doi:10.1097/JPN.0000000000000879

Professional Quality of Life and Turnover Intention Among Perinatal Nurses in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic

J Perinat Neonatal Nurs. 2025 May 9. doi: 10.1097/JPN.0000000000000879. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Stacey E Iobst¹, Joyce K Edmonds, Rachel Blankstein Breman, Mark Walker, Natasha I Best, Yunwei Cui

Affiliation

¹ Author Affiliations: College of Health Professions Department of Nursing, Towson University, Towson, Maryland (Drs Iobst and Walker); Ariadne Labs, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts (Dr Edmonds); University of Maryland School of Nursing, Baltimore, Maryland (Dr Breman); Daniel K. Inouye Graduate School of Nursing, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland (Dr Best); and Department of Mathematics, Fisher College of Science and Mathematics, Towson, Maryland (Dr Cui).

PMID: 40367096
DOI: 10.1097/JPN.0000000000000879

Abstract

Purpose: To examine relationships between the subdomains of professional quality of life and intention to stay in the job and the profession among perinatal registered nurses in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: There is limited knowledge about professional quality of life, encompassing burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction, and its impact on turnover intention among U.S. perinatal registered nurses.

Methods: We conducted a repeated, cross-sectional survey. Surveys were distributed online in May 2021 and May 2022 to a convenience sample of perinatal registered nurses (N = 113). We conducted descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, Spearman's rank correlation, and multiple linear regression.

Results: There was an increase in burnout (P = .004) and secondary traumatic stress (P < .001) and a decrease in compassion satisfaction (P < .001), and intention to stay in the job (P < .0001) and the profession (P < .001). Higher compassion satisfaction was associated with higher intention to stay in the job (P < .0001) and the profession (P < .0001). Higher burnout was associated with lower intention to stay in the job (P < .0001) and the profession (P < .0001). Higher secondary traumatic stress was associated with lower intention to stay in the job (P < .0001) and the profession (P < .0001).

Conclusion: We observed deteriorating professional quality of life and decreased intention to stay in the job and in the profession among U.S. perinatal registered nurses.

Implications for practice and research: Strategies are needed to foster a health care environment in which compassion satisfaction is maximized among perinatal registered nurses.

Keywords: burnout; compassion satisfaction; nurse retention; professional quality of life; secondary traumatic stress.