Assessment of Life Satisfaction among Physiotherapists from Selected Hospitals in South-Western Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Life satisfaction of an individual is strongly associated with factors such as income, educational status, family and occupation. There is a dearth of studies on job and life satisfaction for physiotherapists, especially in Nigeria.Objective: This study assessed life satisfaction for physiotherapists from selected hospitals in South-Western Nigeria.Methods: Seventy-six physiotherapists from seven purposively selected hospitals who met the inclusion criteria responded to the study. The Life Satisfaction Scale Questionnaire (LSSQ) was used as the research instrument. The LSSQ is a two-section questionnaire. Section A comprises 6 items designed to assess demographic information of the respondents while section B consists of 29 items, designed to measure the life satisfaction of the respondents. The questions on perceived level of satisfaction in different domains are on a 7-point scale ranging from 7 (strongly agree) to 1 (strongly disagree) for each question. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.Results: The response rate of the study was 80%. The mean total life satisfaction of the respondents was 151 – 180. There was a significant difference in total life satisfaction scores at p < 0.001 between the single and married respondents, first degree and postgraduates and between entry physiotherapist and senior physiotherapist. There was a significant association between level of life satisfaction and level of education, at p < .05. There also was a significant association, p < 001, between the level of life satisfaction and age, marital status and cadre.Conclusion: Life satisfaction of clinical physiotherapists in South-Western Nigeria was high and is associated with marital status, postgraduate qualification and in a higher professional cadre. This implies that physiotherapists in South-Western Nigeria are in a condition that promotes high productivity and efficiency and therefore physiotherapists are more likely to not migrate out of the country.