Public health: The voice of professionals

Abstract

Objective: To monitor, for the first time in Portugal, job satisfaction on public health units (PHUs).

Design: Observational, transversal and descriptive/correlational study.

Setting: All 55 PHUs of mainland Portugal.

Participants: This study targeted all 1196 public health professionals working in PHUs.

Main outcome measures: Instrument to Assess Satisfaction of Professionals (IASP), filled online, respecting the ethical considerations and a conceptual measurement model.

Results: Data were obtained from 64% of professionals serving in PHUs, 73% of them female. Response rate of the physicians was 59.1%, with 72.3% of environmental health technicians, 62.0% of nurses and 58.3% of technical assistants. The average age was 47.6(±10.4) years, from 22 to 69 years. We found fair/good satisfaction with men, less educated and professionals with coordination functions more satisfied and low-level satisfaction with salary. Sociodemographic and labour characteristics play a relevant role on job satisfaction. Being female, a physician and an environmental health technician or working in a public setting increases the probability of low satisfaction.

Conclusions: Public health professionals are satisfied with their job, revealing high pride in their professions and strongly recommending their units to family and friends. Some variables, for example gender, leadership, marital status and education, do influence satisfaction. However, we found dissatisfaction among physicians when practice is compared with what is thought in the internship. It is possible to change the reality in which public health professionals work and to contribute to a reorganization of resources, new internal dynamics and establishment of improvement plans, aimed at a full accomplishment and job satisfaction.

Keywords: health policy; job satisfaction; public health.