Background: Job satisfaction among physiotherapists has been studied in many developing and developed countries, but not yet in areas recently affected by wars and refugee crises in the Middle East, including Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank, and Gaza regions.
Objectives: To explore physiotherapists' job satisfaction in Jordan, Lebanon, West Bank, and Gaza and examine differences in job satisfaction according to regions, gender, academic qualifications, and years of clinical experience.
Methods: A cross-sectional study using a self-administered online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of participants' characteristics and a 17-items Likert scale of job satisfaction.
Results: A total of 413 participants completed the online questionnaire. Most of the respondents were older than 27 years (55%), males (53.8%), and holding a bachelor's degree (70.2%), and had 5-10 years of experience (70.4%). The overall job satisfaction was 66.1%. There was no significant difference in job satisfaction according to the region in all questionnaire items. Female physiotherapists reported higher satisfaction in receiving career advice (p = .013). In many items, physiotherapists with higher qualifications and longer years of experience reported higher satisfaction (p < 0.05). Salaries and remunerations, lack of continuing education support, and lack of evidence-based practice in the workplace were the main reasons for job dissatisfaction.
Conclusion: To improve physiotherapy job satisfaction, healthcare administrators should increase physiotherapists' financial rewards, support continuing education, and set evidence-based practice policies.
Keywords: Middle East; Work; gender; rehabilitation.