Health-related quality of life among radiology technicians in Turkish hospitals: a cross sectional study.
BACKGROUND
Health related quality of life (HRQoL), despite its potential bi-directional interaction with occupational risks, has not been extensively addressed among radiology technicians.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate HRQoL among radiology technicians in relation to sociodemographic and occupational factors.


METHODS
A total of 115 radiology technicians who were employed in three big hospitals located in Istanbul province were included on a voluntary basis in this cross sectional questionnaire-based study conducted between June 2019 and August 2019. The questionnaire form elicited items on socio-demographic characteristics, occupational characteristics and the 36-item Short-form Health Survey (SF-36), respectively.


RESULTS
Overall, 94.8% of technicians confirmed previous training on radiation protection and safety, while 92.2% noted distrust in their knowledge on radiation protection and patient dosage. In addition, 47.8% of technicians noted seldom use of radiation protection measures and 55.7% noted distrust in reliability of radiation exposure measurements. The multiple regression analysis revealed that older age, female gender, working at a university hospital and seldom use of protection significantly predicted poor HRQoL (p = 0.042 to 0.001), while working in interventional radiology and having trust in radiation exposure measurements predicted better HRQoL (p = 0.006 to 0.001) in terms of certain domains.


CONCLUSION
In conclusion, our findings revealed lack of trust in current self-knowledge on radiation protection and safety by majority of radiology technicians and seldom use of radiation protection measures by half of them, despite previously trained on radiation protection and safety. Certain occupational factors and factors related to radiation protection and safety were also amongst the significant determinants of poor HRQoL.
['Akyurt|Nuran|N|0000-0002-6303-4342']
D000328:Adult D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005260:Female D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice D006282:Health Personnel D006785:Hospitals, University D006801:Humans D008297:Male D016273:Occupational Exposure D011788:Quality of Life D000069079:Radiation Exposure D011835:Radiation Protection D011839:Radiation, Ionizing D011872:Radiology Department, Hospital D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires D014421:Turkey D055815:Young Adult
Quality of life Radiology technicians Cross sectional studies SF-36 Radiation protection Knowledge Radiation safety Turkey