The Impact of Longevity and Staff Health Promotion on Employee Engagement in Al Dhafra Hospitals, United Arab Emirates (UAE): A Quantitative Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Employee engagement, organizational culture, and staff retention are critical success factors in healthcare institutions. Recognizing the growing need to support staff well-being, Al Dhafra Hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) implemented PURA, a comprehensive wellness and longevity program under the PureHealth umbrella¹. Objectives: The study explores the effectiveness of health promotion and longevity programs in enhancing employee engagement, strengthening organizational culture, and improving staff retention rates within a network of public hospitals in the UAE. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional study design was used. Data were collected via an online structured survey consisting of 32 Likert-scale items, distributed to a random sample of hospital employees (N = 194). Descriptive statistics, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and Spearman’s rank correlation were employed to analyze the data using SPSS Statistics software (version 29). Effect sizes (Cohen’s d) and reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s α) were calculated to complement significance testing. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was chosen for this single-time-point Likert data due to its non-parametric nature, which is suitable for ordinal data and comparisons of related samples when assumptions for parametric tests are not met. Results: The analysis revealed a median composite score of 4.0 across all three domains—engagement, culture, and retention. Wilcoxon test results demonstrated statistically significant positive perceptions of the PURA program’s impact on all measured outcomes (p < 0.01). Strong correlations were found between engagement and culture (r = 0.754), engagement and retention (r = 0.725), and culture and retention (r = 0.801), indicating a strong interdependence among the three factors. Given the ordinal nature of Likert responses and the single？group design, a one？sample Wilcoxon signed？rank test was used to compare median domain scores to the neutral point (3.0), with effect sizes (r) reported. Conclusion: The findings affirm that wellness and longevity initiatives such as PURA positively influence staff engagement, enhance organizational culture, and contribute to improved retention rates. These results underscore the strategic value of employee well-being programs in healthcare settings and support their broader implementation across similar institutions.