Abstract
Objectives : This study was to examine factors affecting the job satisfaction of dental hygienists. Methods : The subjects in this study were dental hygienists who worked at dental hospitals, dental clinics and general hospitals in the city of Gwangju. A survey was conducted by mail from January 2 to March 2, 2007. Out of the collected data, 208 answer sheets were analyzed. Results : 1. The dental hygienists investigated got a mean of 3.20 on job satisfaction. Among the job satisfaction factors, relationship with patients ranked highest(3.79), followed by relationship with colleagues(3.62), working environments(3.39), future prospects(3.30), professional status (2.89), pay(2.82) and required workload(2.58). 2. Regarding links between general characteristics and job satisfaction, the older dental hygienists were more satisfied with professional status, pay, required workload and relationship with patients. By marital status, the married dental hygienists expressed better satisfaction at professional status than the unmarried ones. By education, those who were receiving college education or received the same or higher education were more gratified than the junior college graduates. By the total length of career, the dental hygienists whose length of career was longer were more gratified with professional status, future prospects and relationship with patients. By workplace, the dental hospital workers were more satisfied with working environments, and the general hospital employees were more gratified with pay. The dental hospital employees were better satisfied with future prospects as well. As to the impact of the length of career at the current workplace, there was a tendency that those who worked at their current workplaces for a longer time expressed better satisfaction with professional status, pay and relationship with patients. By monthly mean income, the larger income earners had a tendency to be better gratified with professional status, pay and relationship with patients. 3. The general characteristics that were selected as independent variables were identified as the factors that exercised an influence on the job satisfaction of the dental hygienists and made an about 14.0% prediction of it. Out of those factors, the total length of career and monthly mean income had a statistically significant impact on that. Conclusions : The above-mentioned findings suggested that out of the seven job satisfaction components, they gave the lowest marks to satisfaction level with pay. As a result of making a multiple regression analysis, it's found that job satisfaction was under the influence of the total length of career and monthly mean income. Therefore there should be an improvement in the pay system in order to boost the job satisfaction of dental hygienists, and they should be paid properly in accordance with total length of career.
