Objective To understand the quality of life of patients with occupational disease in Shenzhen and their demand for continuing care services, so as to provide evidence and orientation for the formulation of further continuing care service programs.

Methods Totally 234 hospitalized patients with occupational diseases in a hospital were investigated with both WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire and questionnaire on continuous nursing service.

Results The average age of 234 patients with occupational diseases was (44.43±10.41) years. The scores of physiological dimension, psychological dimension, social relationship dimension and environmental dimension of these patients were statistically significant lower than the norm values of Chinese adults (average age 43.8 years) in 2010(P < 0.01). The patients, who were female, aged < 40 years old, with low education level and low family monthly income, suffering long time diseases, or pneumoconiosis, without use of protective equipment during their employment, had lower scores (P < 0.01). The majority of patients had experience of repeated hospitalization, receiving rehabilitation guidance after being discharged from hospital, and regular re-examined. They expected to receive professional continuous nursing services and hoped to have regular outpatient re-examination in convenient way.

Conclusion The quality of life of these patients in Shenzhen is not optimistic, and they have a strong demand for continuous nursing services.