Job Satisfaction of Health Extension Workers in West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Mezgebu Yitayal , Yemane Berhane , Alemayehu Worku , Yigzaw Kebede
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.20372/ejhbs.v8i1.284
Submitted: 2021-09-17 06:35:00
Published: 2017-09-10

Background: Having highly satisfied health workers is one of the key resources for successfully implementing public health programs at grass root levels. Ethiopia implemented a nationwide Health Extension Program that is primarily staffed by health extension workers in rural areas in 2003. While the program is innovative and supposed to bring better health to the population in rural areas, studies done concerning the satisfaction of the health extension workers are rare. Therefore, the objective of this study was to measure the job satisfaction of health extension workers and identify factors associated with it.

Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted among 282 health extension workers to assess their job satisfaction in West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia, in 2012. The sample size was determined using the single population proportion formula, and data were collected using a structured questionnaire containing satisfaction items on a Likert scale. The mean was used to report job satisfaction levels, while the multiple linear regression model was employed to identify factors associated with job satisfaction.

Results: Two hundred sixty-nine health extension workers participated in the study with a 95.4% response rate. The health extension workers’ overall mean job satisfaction score was 3.33 out of 5. Job satisfaction had a significant association with organizational culture (t-score = 2.115, p < 0.05), and workplace conditions (t-score = 7.607, p < 0.001). Job satisfaction was also strongly related to organizational citizenship behaviour, motivational properties of jobs, job preferences (p < 0.05), and job characteristics (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The job satisfaction of health extension workers can be potentially increased by improving workplace conditions and organizational culture. The workers were dissatisfied with extrinsic factors which are critical elements for improving their satisfaction by making it possible for them to be well-addressed by decision makers and managers.

 

Keywords

job satisfaction health extension workers workplace conditions organizational cultures Ethiopia

Authors

Mezgebu Yitayal

Department of Health Service Management and Health Economics, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia, Tel: +251-581116221 (office), +251-947 057683 (mobile), P. O. Box 196, E-mail: mezgebuy@gmail.com

Yemane Berhane

Addis Continental Institute of Public Health, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Alemayehu Worku

Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Yigzaw Kebede

University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia

How to Cite

Mezgebu Yitayal , Yemane Berhane, Alemayehu Worku, Yigzaw Kebede (2017-09-10). Job Satisfaction of Health Extension Workers in West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Ethiopian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences, Vol. 8 No. 1 (2017), 65-76. https://doi.org/10.20372/ejhbs.v8i1.284

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Copyright © 2017 The Author(s)

Copyright & Licensing © Year The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) , which permits unrestricted use; sharing (copying and redistributing the material in any medium or format); and adaptation (remixing, transforming, and building upon the material for any purpose), provided the original author(s) and the source are properly cited/credited and a link to the license is provided. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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