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.