A STATISTICAL COMPARISON OF JOB DISSATISFACTION BETWEEN 2 GEOGRAPHICALLY DIVERSE COHORTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL-HEALTH PRACTITIONERS

This investigation compared the levels of job dissatisfaction of two g eographically diverse cohorts of environmental health practitioners (E HPs) from a large county health department in southern California and nine county health departments in northern Illinois, respectively. All subjects in both cohorts completed the Occupational Needs Questionnai re (ON-Q) and a background data sheet soliciting specific information on selected demographic and occupational variables. On a macro level, the EHPs in the northern Illinois cohort were slightly more dissatisfi ed with their jobs than the EHPs in the southern California cohort (p< .05), although the differences in the distribution of overall ON-Q sco res grouped by comparative levels of job dissatisfaction were not stat istically significant. On a micro level, there were a number of simila rities and a few notable differences in regard to specific job aspects related to job dissatisfaction. It was concluded that although some d ifferences in levels of job dissatisfaction exist among geographically diverse cohorts of county EHPs: EHPs in general seem to be somewhat d issatisified with their jobs overall, and the chief reasons for the di ssatisfaction appeal to be similar from one cohort to another.