Es. Williams et al., Refining the measurement of physician job satisfaction results from the physician worklife survey, MED CARE, 37(11), 1999, pp. 1140-1154
Citations number
22
Categorie Soggetti
Public Health & Health Care Science","Health Care Sciences & Services
BACKGROUND. Physician job satisfaction has been linked to various patient c
are and health system outcomes. A survey instrument that concisely measures
physicians' satisfaction with various job facets can help diverse stakehol
ders to better understand and manage these outcomes.
OBJECTIVE. TO document the development and validation of a multidimensional
physician job satisfaction measure and separate global satisfaction measur
es.
DESIGN. Self-administered questionnaire: Physician Worklife Survey (PWS),
SUBJECTS. A pilot study employed a national American Medical Association Ma
sterfile sample of US primary care physicians and random samples from four
states. Responses (n = 835; 55% return rate) were randomly assigned to deve
lopmental (n = 560) or cross-validation (n = 275) samples. A national sampl
e (n = 2,325; 52% response rate) of physicians was used in a subsequent val
idation study.
RESULTS. A 38-item, 10-facet satisfaction measure resulting from factor and
reliability analyses of 70 pilot items was further reduced to 36 items. Re
liabilities of the 10 facets ranged from .65 to .77. Three scales measuring
global job, career, and specialty satisfaction were also constructed with
reliabilities from .84 to .88. Results supported face, content, convergent,
and discriminant validity of the measures.
CONCLUSIONS. Physician job satisfaction is a complex phenomenon that can be
measured using the PWS.