Job Satisfaction of Staff Working with Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities in Two Different Settings

Abstract

Background: Several studies on job satisfaction have been done on healthcare workers in Bahrain; however, no previous research has investigated the staff working with intellectual disability patients. Objective: To identify the level of job satisfaction of healthcare staff working with individuals with intellectual disability in two settings in Bahrain. Setting: Psychiatric Hospital and Bahraini Association of Intellectual Disabilities and Autism (BAIDA), Bahrain. Design: A Cross-Sectional Study Using a Questionnaire Survey. Method: Staff working with individuals who have intellectual disabilities in the psychiatric hospital (n=41) and in the BAIDA society (n=35) were surveyed using a locally designed questionnaire in September 2011. The questionnaire is designed to assess job satisfaction in terms of eleven factors. Result: Satisfaction in both institutes was good, slightly better among society staff. The satisfaction was not associated with age, duration of work and job type. Males were more satisfied than females in some dimensions. Conclusion: This study revealed that staff working with persons with intellectual disabilities in the two settings were generally satisfied. Overall, the staff in the civic society was more satisfied than those in the hospital. Possible reasons for such differences were discussed, periodic similar studies were recommended for intellectual disabilities staff and other subspecialties. Bahrain Med Bull 2014; 36(2):69-73 _____________________________________________________________________________ * Head of Occupational Therapy Department Psychiatric Hospital, Ministry of Health ** Professor of Psychiatry College of Medicine & Medical Sciences Arabian Gulf University *** Consultant Psychiatrist Psychiatric Hospital, Ministry of Health **** Senior House Officer Department of Ear, Nose and Throat, Head and Neck King Hamad University Hospital Kingdom of Bahrain Email: aansari@health.gov.bh Job satisfaction describes how contented a person is with his/her job 1 . Job satisfaction is a very well-studied topic in the literature 2-4 . Several factors can affect an individual’s level of job satisfaction. Some of these factors include payment and fringe benefits, promotion and advancement opportunities in the organization, quality of working conditions, leadership and peers relationships 5-8 . Job satisfaction is usually measured at two levels: (a) factorial levels using one of the above mentioned factors and (b) overall job satisfaction which is typically a sum or an average of the factors chosen by the researcher to represent job satisfaction in the organization. The definition of job satisfaction of mental health healthcare workers was copied from business and industry, which are not exactly the same 9 . Job Descriptive Index or Job Satisfaction Surveys rarely have been adapted for mental health healthcare workers. Those healthcare providers are one of least studied groups in terms of job satisfaction, physical and psychological health 10 . Staff providing services for individuals with intellectual disabilities often experience some occupational syndromes such as stress, emotional burnout, high turnover and poor job satisfaction 5,9 . These experiences could negatively affect the quality of care provided to the persons with intellectual disabilities. There is a documented relationship between job satisfaction of staff and patient satisfaction 8 . Staff working in psychiatric facilities typically take a significant amount of time before deciding to leave their employment 5 . BAIDA was established in 1992 and is the largest civic organization in the country that care for persons with intellectual disabilities and autism. The researchers assumed that the flatter the organization is the more satisfied the staff are. Thus, it was expected that staff in civic society would be more satisfied than staff in professional bureaucracy such as hospital setting. BAIDA is a smaller organization with easier access to decision making. The aim of this study is to evaluate the level of job satisfaction of staff working with patients with intellectual disabilities.