Job satisfaction of health center personnel in Krabi Province

Job satisfaction can greatly influence work performances. If people have a high level of job satisfaction, they will be more efficient in performing their work because job satisfaction can enhance their interests and enthusiasm for work. This survey research is the cross-sectional type of study which aims to assess the job satisfaction of public health staff and factors which are correlated to job satisfaction of the staff in Krabi province. The research populations are 222 public health officers in Krabi province and a questionnaire was developed and used as the research tool of this study. Data were analyzed using the SPSS/PC software program and descriptive statistics were conducted to determine frequency, percentage, means, standard deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient and Chi-Square test. Results of this study indicate that the female public health staff at the sub-district level outnumbered the male (64% and 36% respectively) and their average age was 34.16 year. The majority of the staff members fell in the age range of 30-34 or 26.1%. Most of them were married (70.7%) and the average number of years that they worked for the public health office was 12.48 years. Most of them had 10-14 years of work experience (23.9%). In addition, more than half of the staff members graduated with a Bachelor’s degree or higher (52.2%). The majority of the public health staff members were currently working as public health officers (52.2%), followed by heads of the health center (30.2%). In the perception of the public health staff at the sub-district level, the transformational leadership of district health officers was rated at the high level (74.8%). If considering four aspects of the leadership; namely, charisma, individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation and inspirational, results indicate that all of these aspects were rated at the high level (77%, 77%, 68.5% and 61.1% respectively). The majority of the public health staff members were satisfied with their work (54.1%) and when looking in detail of each aspect, results show that supervision, work itself and coworkers were at the high level (61.7%, 66.7% and 49.5% respectively). On the other hand, pay and promotions were rated at the moderate level (59.9% and 50.9%). The majority of the staff members were satisfied with their work. They believed their job was relevant to their knowledge and competencies and it benefited the society and at the same time it was honorable and respected by the society. Results indicate that age and duration of employment had the significant correlation coefficient (r) with the job satisfaction, equaling to -0.066 and 0.88 respectively. Additionally, results of the relationship between the leadership of district health officers and job satisfaction of the public health staff showed that the leadership was positively correlated with the job satisfaction (r = 0.531 and p-value < 0.001). According to this study, the public health staff members were interested and enthusiastic in their work and responsibilities rather than paying attention to whether district health officers would inspire or intellectually stimulate them or make acquaintances with them. The district health officers should give more authority to the public health staff to independently perform their work.