Assessment of quality of life among professional palliative care providers in Tabuk City, Saudi Arabia

This study aimed to assess the quality of life (QOL) among palliative care professionals in the Tabuk region of Saudi Arabia and to identify the factors associated with it. This cross-sectional study was conducted between January and September 2025 among 277 palliative care professionals of both sexes and different specialties at Tabuk Health Cluster Hospitals and King Salman North West Armed Forces Hospital, Tabuk City, Saudi Arabia. The English version of the World Health Organization QOL assessment-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) was employed for data collection. The questionnaire was converted to an online survey through the Google Forms platform. The survey link was disseminated to the study population via social media applications. The study outcomes included physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment domains. After calculation of QOL transformed scores, they were compared across participants’ characteristics by independent samples t test or 1-way analysis of variance test, as appropriate. The mean age of participants was 33.8 ± 6.3 years. More than half (56.7%) held a bachelor’s degree, and nurses represented the largest group (48.4%). By specialty, internal medicine was most common (35.4%), followed by critical care (21.3%). Among QOL domains, physical health had the highest mean score (51.7 ± 14.0), while the social domain had the lowest (45.9 ± 21.8). Psychological (48.7 ± 17.0) and environmental (48.6 ± 16.4) domains showed intermediate scores. Job type was significantly associated with physical health ( P  = .037), with patient care technicians scoring lower (45.0 ± 13.9) than specialists (55.1 ± 12.6). Specialty differences were significant for social ( P  = .027) and environmental ( P  = .005) domains: palliative medicine scored highest in social (53.8 ± 24.7) and environmental (56.6 ± 19.0), while anesthesia scored lowest in both (36.9 ± 19.9 and 41.6 ± 20.0, respectively). Palliative care professionals reported an overall moderate QOL, with the lowest scores observed in the social domain. This finding may reflect the emotional demands and workload associated with palliative care practice. The observed differences across job type, specialty, health status, marital status, and healthcare sector suggest that QOL may be associated with both professional and personal factors, with certain subgroups reporting lower QOL and potentially greater vulnerability to occupational and psychosocial stressors.