Community Dental Health

cover art

Cover Date:
March 2009
Print ISSN:
0265 539X
Vol:
26
Issue:
1

Measurement of attitudes of UK dental practitioners to core job constructs.

Objectives: To develop a measure to identify dental practitioner attitudes towards core job dimensions relating to job satisfaction and motivation and to test this against practice characteristics and provider attributes of UK practitioners Research design: an 83-item questionnaire was developed from open-ended interviews with practitioners and use of items in previously used dentist job satisfaction questionnaires. This was subsequently sent to 684 practitioners. Item analysis reduced the item pool to 40 items and factor analysis (PCA) was undertaken. Results: 440 (64%) dentists responded. Factor analysis resulted in six factors being identified as distinguishable job dimensions, overall Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88. The factors were: ‘restriction in being able to provide quality care (F1)’, ‘respect from being a dentist (F2)’, ‘control of work (F3)’, ‘running a practice (F4)’, ‘clinical skills (F5)’, and ‘caring for patients (F6)’. All six factors were correlated with a global job satisfaction score, although F1 was most strongly related (r=0.60). Regression model analysis revealed that ‘whether the dentist worked within the National Health Service or wholly or partly in the private sector’ (p<0.001), ‘time since qualification’ (p=0.009), and the position of the dentist within the practice (whether a practice owner or associate dentist), (p=0.047) were predictive of this factor. Conclusions: Six core job constructs of UK practitioners have been identified, together with several practice characteristics and practitioner attributes which predict these factors. The study demonstrates the importance of refining measures of dentists’ job satisfaction to take account of the culture and the system in which the practitioner works.

Keywords: Financing, job motivation, job satisfaction, quality.

Article Price
£15.00
Institution Article Price
£
Page Start
43
Page End
51
Authors
R. V. Harris, A. Ashcroft, G. Burnside, J. M. Dancer, D. Smith, B. Grieveson

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  1. Editorial - Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of health. A Report of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) 2008.
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  1. Referees 2009
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  1. Predictive tool for estimating the potential effect of water fluoridation on dental caries
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  1. Dental caries prevalence and distribution among preschoolers in Singapore
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  1. Oral health in German children, adolescents, adults and senior citizens in 2005
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  1. Caries prevalence and fluoride use in low SES children in Clermont-Ferrand (France)
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  1. Previous radiographic experience of children referred for dental extractions under general anaesthesia in the UK.
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  1. The prevalence of dental caries and fissure sealants in 12 year old children by disadvantaged status in Dublin (Ireland).
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  1. Childhood growth and dental caries
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  1. Measurement of attitudes of UK dental practitioners to core job constructs.
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  1. Dental general anaesthesia - will the service disappear? A pilot study
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  1. Orthodontic treatment need and oral health-related quality among children
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  1. Short Communication - Changing dental caries levels in the 1980’s, 1990’s and 2005 among children of a Jerusalem region.
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