The Relationship Between Quality of Life and Nurses' Turnover Intentions: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: High nurse turnover disrupts patient care and imposes substantial financial and operational burdens on healthcare systems. Although nurses' quality of life (QOL) is recognized as a key influence on turnover intention, region-specific data from Saudi Arabia remain limited. Aim: To quantify the association between nurses' QOL and turnover intention and to identify demographic predictors of turnover intention in a Saudi tertiary hospital. Methods: A cross-sectional survey (January-March 2023) was conducted at the Security Forces Hospital, Makkah. Three hundred registered nurses completed the professional quality of life scale (ProQOL) and the six-item turnover intention scale-6 (TIS-6). Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, bivariate tests (χ ², t/ANOVA and Pearson/Spearman correlations), and a simultaneous multiple linear regression (SPSS v28). Results: Among the 300 nurses surveyed, QOL correlated moderately with turnover intention (r = 0.44, p < 0.0011). The regression model explained 38% of the variance in turnover-intention scores (adjusted R ² = 0.38, F (6, 293) = 31.4, p ≤ 0.001). Lower QOL (β = 0.42, p ≤ 0.001), younger age (β = -0.19, p=0.0012), single marital status (β = 0.15, p ≤ 0.001), and Saudi nationality (β = 0.13, p=0.018) independently predicted higher turnover intention; monthly income and years of experience were nonsignificant. Conclusion: Professional well-being and specific demographic factors, particularly being younger, single, and Saudi, drive nurses' turnover intention. Interventions that enhance QOL for these at-risk groups may reduce turnover, stabilize the workforce, and safeguard patient-care quality. Single-site scope and self-reported measures temper generalizability but underscore the urgency of targeted retention strategies in similar settings.