Job satisfaction of primary healthcare professionals (public sector): A cross-sectional study in Morocco

Heliyon. 2023 Sep 20;9(9):e20357. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20357. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Abstract

Healthcare professionals (HCPs) are indispensable for improving the availability and quality of healthcare services. Therefore, the present cross-sectional study aimed to measure the job satisfaction of HCPs working in primary care (PC) centers in Marrakech, according to the job satisfaction scale. Using census sampling, this study involved HCPs working in PC centers. Data were collected using an electronic questionnaire and analyzes were performed using Jamovi (version 1.6). The Warr-Cook-Wall scale was used to assess the satisfaction of these professionals. Student's t-test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney non-parametric tests were used for group comparisons (p < 0.05). The lowest satisfaction scores were recorded for general practitioners (GPs) and nurses. These were work safety (1.54 ± 0.85 vs. 1.51 ± 0.82), salary (1.58 ± 0.79 vs. 1.72 ± 0.87), chance of promotion (1.68 ± 0.87 vs. 1.80 ± 0.93), possibility of using its capacities (1.90 ± 1.04 vs. 2.01 ± 1.08), and workload (1.88 ± 1.10 vs. 2.05 ± 1.06). A statistically significant difference was observed between different professional statuses regarding facility management (p = 0.049). The overall job satisfaction of HCPs was low, especially among GPs and nurses: the scores for intrinsic job satisfaction with respect to sociodemographic characteristics were low, whereas they were medium for extrinsic job satisfaction. Further research is warranted to clarify the intrinsic and extrinsic factors of job satisfaction in Morocco's healthcare sector.

Keywords: General practitioners; Healthcare professionals; Job satisfaction; Nurses; Primary care.