A national survey of dental hygienists: working patterns and job satisfaction

Objective To describe the working practices and level of job satisfaction o f dental hygienists in the United Kingdom. Design Postal questionnaire surv ey of 3,955 dental hygienists registered with the General Dental Council. R eplies were received from 2,533 (64%). Results At the time of the survey only a small proportion of respondents (1 1%) were not working as dental hygienists, the most common reason for a cur rent career break being child rearing. The majority of dental hygienists (7 8%) were employed in general dental. practices, and most worked in more tha n one practice (64%). Approximately half worked part-time (fewer than 30 ho urs per week), and part-time working was more common amongst those responde nts with childcare responsibilities. In the region of 60% of respondents ha d taken one or more career breaks during their working life, and the averag e total duration of career breaks was 11 months, the most common reason for all career breaks was child rearing. Additional qualifications had been ga ined by 35% of the sample, a high proportion (75%) had attended training co urses in the previous year. The respondents expressed a high degree of job satisfaction, those who were older and who had childcare responsibilities e xpressed higher levels of job satisfaction. Conclusions Dental hygienists express a high level of job satisfaction. A p roportion take breaks in their career, most commonly for pregnancy and chil d rearing. The majority return to part-time employment after their career b reak. Planning of future requirements for the training of professionals com plementary to dentistry should be informed by a consideration of the workin g patterns of dental hygienists.