Factors affecting the quality of life of middle‐aged women suffering Hwa‐Byung

Aims and objectives. To test a staged theoretical model designed to explain causal relationships affecting the quality of life (QOL) of middle‐aged Korean women suffering from Hwa‐Byung (HB). Background. The model contains three stages comprised of antecedents (stage 1), perception (stage 2) and outcome variable (stage 3). Stage 1 contains individual characteristic and emotional distress variables. In stage 2, the perception variable is depression (DEP). In stage 3, the outcome factor is QOL. Design. A cross‐sectional, descriptive design was used. Methods. A convenience sample of 135 community dwelling middle‐aged women was recruited over a five‐month period in the neuropsychology outpatient clinic at an Oriental hospital in Korea. The instruments were the Korean version of WHO Quality of Life‐BREF (WHOQOL‐BREF), Korean version of State‐Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI‐K), The Korean version of State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI‐K) and Korean version of Beck Depression Inventory (K‐BDI). Results. Forty‐five per cent of the variance in the QOL of women with HB was explained by the direct effect of depression (β = −0·356, p = 0·000) and trait anxiety (β = −0·324, p = 0·001). State anger (β = 0·429, p = 0·000) and spouse (β = −0·180, p = 0·021) explained 45·0% of the variance in (of) depression. Conclusion. The findings showed that depression mediates the relationship between the emotional distress and QOL as a negative outcome. Relevance to clinical practice. These relationships can guide researchers and psychiatric mental health nurses to understand depression as a mediating factor and to develop nursing interventions to improve QOL of HB women.