Development and validation of a tool to measure job satisfaction among preventive medicine workers in northern Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Objective: To develop a job satisfaction instrument (questionnaire) to assess the satisfaction of preventive medicine workers in Vietnam.

Method: Project was conducted in three phases. First, a comprehensive literature review was done to identify existing knowledge. Second, qualitative in-depth interviews (n = 12) and two focus group discussions (n = 12 participants) were conducted to identify the characteristics of job satisfaction. Third, a quantitative survey of preventive medicine staff (n = 196) was undertaken to establish the validity and reliability of the newly developed questionnaire. Expert review (n = 6), pre-testing (n = 10) for item appropriateness, rewording and rephrasing and test-retest reliability assessment (n = 38) were also undertaken.

Result: This qualitative inquiry revealed a number of common constructs for job satisfaction as well as several narratives surrounding job satisfaction in the Vietnamese context, such as support and appreciation of the community, accounting procedures, and regulations of the government or local authority. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the new instrument had eight dimensions, including pay and benefits, reward and recognition, supervision, communication, relationship with co-workers, community support, working conditions and the nature of the job. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of individual dimensions and the whole instrument ranged from 0.684 to 0.854. The test–retest reliability coefficients over an interval of five days were 0.732–0.937, showing that the instrument had good test-retest reliability over a short period. The results show that the new instrument is valid and reliable for assessing the job satisfaction of the preventive medicine workers.

Conclusion: This is the first study to develop a tool for measuring job satisfaction of preventive medicine workers in Vietnam, which appears to have good psychometric properties. It could be used for regular monitoring and evaluation of the workforce.

KEYWORDS:

• Health worker
• preventive medicine
• job satisfaction
• exploratory factor analysis
• content validity index
• Vietnam

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nguyen Quynh Anh

Nguyen Quynh Anh, M.Sc., Ph.D., Lecturer, Department of Health Economics, Hanoi University of Public Health, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Michael P. Dunne

Michael P. Dunne, Professor, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Australia and Institute for Community Health Research, Hue University, Vietnam.

Phan Trong Lan

Phan Trong Lan, MD., PhD., Associate Professor, the Director of Pasteur Institute, Vietnam.

Tran Anh Dung

Tran Anh Dung, MD., PhD., Medical Officer, Health Environment Management Agency, Ministry of Health, Vietnam.