Abstract
BackgroundThe main aim of the present study was to examine the relationships among work environment, job satisfaction and burnout in dentists and to analyse the way in which certain sociodemographic variables, such as gender, professional experience and weekly working hours, predict the perception of the work environment.MethodsA battery of online questionnaires was sent to 3876 dentists officially registered in the triple-province region of Valencia; the battery included the Survey of Organizational Attributes for Dental Care, the Warr–Cook–Wall Overall Job Satisfaction Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and a series of sociodemographic questions formulated for the specific purpose of this study. To assess the relations with the independent variables, we calculated the Pearson correlation coefficient, the Z-scores were calculated to make effect sizes comparable, and the associations between the scales and the sociodemographic variables were investigated by adjusted multiple regression analysis.ResultsA total of 336 participants (9.4%) correctly completed the survey in this study. The mean (M) age was 37.6 years old (standard deviation (SD) = 9.6, median (Me) = 34). Participants reported high scores on the work environment and job satisfaction scales, with only limited experiences of burnout (3.8%). Work environment and burnout were significantly and positively predicted by years of professional experience (β = .078; p = .000 and β = .107; p = .004, respectively), and job satisfaction was significantly and positively predicted by weekly hours of work (β = .022; p = .001), without significant differences according to gender.ConclusionsDentists who work over 20 hours a week and have more years of professional experience report having better perceptions of well-being at work, with no significant difference according to gender. It is important to highlight the aspects that improve well-being in dentistry to reduce burnout, which would lead to greater work engagement and better attention to patients.
Highlights
The main aim of the present study was to examine the relationships among work environment, job sat‐ isfaction and burnout in dentists and to analyse the way in which certain sociodemographic variables, such as gender, professional experience and weekly working hours, predict the perception of the work environment
The main objective of the present study was (1) to evaluate the relationships among perceived work environment, job satisfaction and burnout among dentists in the triple-province region of Valencia (Spain) and (2) to test whether the perceived work environment differs between males and females, workers with different professional experience, and workers with different weekly working hours
The questionnaires were delivered to a total of 3876 dentists
Summary
The main aim of the present study was to examine the relationships among work environment, job sat‐ isfaction and burnout in dentists and to analyse the way in which certain sociodemographic variables, such as gender, professional experience and weekly working hours, predict the perception of the work environment. Healthcare workers have been shown to be at risk of burnout and low job satisfaction due to the peculiar characteristics of their profession (workload, patient safety, medical errors and work-life balance) [3]. This has generated interest in the study of this particular work environment [4]. Considering the dental context, dentistry has been recognized as a highly stressful profession [5] that has changed considerably over the last decade in terms of socio-occupational aspects These changes are largely due to the increase in the number of new graduates, as well as to the emergence of new business situations (pluriemployment, franchises, changes in working hours, types of contracts) and the need to become specialized [6]. These discrepancies may be explained in part by the use of different measurement instruments [9]
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