[The quality of professional life and the pride in working in public health. The results of a survey].

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To find what factors explain best the pride of belonging to a public health enterprise. DESIGN: A descriptive crossover study. SETTING: One primary care CHS. PARTICIPANTS: Staff of 363 from Tortosa's Primary Care administrative staff. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: All the employees were sent a self-filling questionnaire on the quality of their professional life. 232 returned the questionnaire filled in (63.9%). They showed an average value for the overall quality of professional life (5.40 +/- 2.09). The general profile covered the following perceptions taken together: sufficient intrinsic motivation; in a work-place with sufficient responsibility, training and social support; associated with enough work-load; with some emotional support from the managers; having some inconveniences caused by work. The pride in belonging to the CHS was high (6.86 +/- 2.50), with those over 45 giving a significantly higher average reply. Among doctors, pride was significantly lower. The multiple regression model identified three significant variables which explained 67.5% of the variability in the pride of belonging to the CHS: recognition of effort, being properly trained for their current job and length of service. CONCLUSIONS: a) Professionals are quite proud of belonging to the CHS. b) Their perception of the quality of professional life is average.