• Elena Fiabane, Ines Giorgi, D Musian, Cinzia Sguazzin, and P Argentero.
• Department of Psychology, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy. elenamaria.fiabane@unipv.it
• Med Lav. 2012 Nov 1; 103 (6): 482-92.

BackgroundOccupational stress and job dissatisfaction are recognized risk factors for healthcare professionals and can lead to a decrease in work performance and in the quality of care offered, and to poorer health of workers. Research in the rehabilitation care setting is very limited and needs to be explored.ObjectivesTo investigate occupational stress, job satisfaction and their relationships with organizational factors among healthcare staff in rehabilitation units.MethodsA cross-sectional study of healthcare staff working in two rehabilitation units was conducted. They were sent two self-administered questionnaires, the Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI) and the Areas of Work life Scale (AWS), in order to assess occupational stress and job satisfaction. One-way ANOVA was used to explore work stress among two groups of workers, characterized by high and low job satisfaction levels. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to assess the association between job satisfaction and organizational risk factors.ResultsA total of 90 questionnaires were returned (response rate 53%). The main sources of stress were unfairness, conflict between personal and organizational values, lack of reward and workload Workers with low job satisfaction significantly scored higher in work-related stress in regard to various aspects of work, and in lower job control. Regression analysis showed that the most important predictors of job satisfaction were fairness and workload.ConclusionsThe results of this study showed that job dissatisfaction is strongly associated with work stress and certain organizational risk factors. This study suggests the importance of focusing on the psychosocial factors in the work environment and job satisfaction in order to improve the well-being of rehabilitation healthcare staff.

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