A job-satisfaction measure for internal medicine residency program directors

Purpose. To develop a job-satisfaction measure that encompasses the multifa ceted job of internal medicine residency program directors. Method. Questions were devised to measure program directors' satisfaction w ith various facets of their jobs. In 1996, the authors surveyed all non-mil itary internal medicine program directors in the United States. Results. Of: the program directors surveyed, 301 (78%) responded. More resp ondents than non-respondents held the title of department chairperson in ad dition to the title of program director (22% vs 7%). Factor analysis and co rrelation analysis yielded a multifaceted measure (termed PD-Sat) composed of 20 questions and six facets (work with residents, colleague relationship s, resources, patient care, pay, and promotion) that made sense based on li terature review and discussions with program directors (face validity). The PD Sat had good internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha =.88), as had each of its six facets (Cronbach's alphas =.60-.90). The six facets cor-related modestly with one another (Pearson's r(2)=.12-.67), suggesting they were me asuring different aspects of a common concept. The PD-Sat correlated signif icantly with an established four-question global job-satisfaction scale use d in previous studies (Pearson's r(2) =.33) demonstrating concurrent validi ty. Scores on the PD-Sat predicted whether program directors were consideri ng, seeking, or making a job change (predictive validity). The PD-Sat perfo rmed comparably well in subsets of program directors who were and were not department chairs, suggesting that it might be applicable to different popu lations of program directors. Conclusion. The authors have developed a new facet-specific job-satisfactio n measure that is reliable and valid for assessing the job satisfaction of internal medicine program directors. Because job descriptions for program d irectors in other specialties are similar, it may also be useful in these p opulations.