Shabaninejad H ¹ (PhD Student), Arab M ² * (PhD), Rashidian A ^2,3 (MD, PhD), Zeraati H ⁴ (PhD), Bahrami S ⁵ (MD, PhD Student)

  ¹ Department of Health Policy and Management, Faculty of Management and Medical Information,

  Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

  ² Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health,

  Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

  ³ National Institute of Health Research of Iran, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

  ⁴ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health,

  Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

  ⁵ Department of Health Ethics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran

  Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. Deputy of public Health

  Received: 26 Sep 2011, Accepted: 13 Jul 2012

  Abstract

  Introduction: Quality of working life of family physicians influences the way they provide services to patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the quality of working life of family physicians in Mazandaran and to determine the related factors.

  Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among family physicians in Mazandaran. The data were collected using a standard questionnaire including 24 questions. The questionnaire was designed according to the Likert scale. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 84 respondents. After completing the questionnaire, data were analyzed using the statistical tests in the SPSS. The simultaneous effect of the independent variables was evaluated using the backward regression model (significant level=0.05).

  Results: According to the results, the quality of working life of family physicians in Mazandaran was average and low (%46). The quality of working life of family physicians who were satisfied with their higher level managers, payment system, and facilities of their workplaces were higher in compare with those who were not satisfied with these factors (p<0.05). Also the simultaneous effect of the independent variables on the quality of working life showed that only satisfaction with the higher level managers and payment system had significant effect (0.8 SE=0.36 and 0.7 SE=0.28, respectively).

  Conclusion: Based on the results of this study and benchmark comparisons, the quality of working life of family physicians in Mazandaran was not appropriate. It seems that the decision-makers should pay more attention on the quality of working life of family physicians in order to solve the problems and to improve their quality of working life.

  Key words: job satisfaction, family physician, general wellbeing, quality of working life