Abstract:
Background: Job satisfaction describes an employee’s motivation and/or feeling of satisfaction towards his/her
work. Globally, healthcare professionals’ turnover and retention play a critical role in the delivery of essential health
services. In Ghana, however, little has been done to ascertain job satisfaction levels among human resources for eyehealth.
The objective of this study therefore was to assess job satisfaction and its associated factors among optometrists
in Ghana.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 304 registered and licensed optometrists of the Ghana
Optometric Association between September 2018 and June 2019. A validated, well-structured questionnaire was
used to elicit information on socio-demographic characteristics of participants and measures on job satisfaction.
Scores from a five-point Likert scale was employed to examine job satisfaction and its associated factors. Linear
regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between overall job satisfaction and its associated factors
using Rasch logit scores.
Results: A total of 214 optometrists gave valid responses to the questionnaires used for the final analysis. The mean
(± SD) score of the overall perception of job satisfaction among optometrists was 3.36 (± 1.00), with 74.3% of them
being satisfied with their jobs. After statistical adjustment, Good work-life balance (Unstandardized co-efficient
(β) = 0.288, p = 0.001), Salary (β = 0.222, p < 0.0005), Supervision (β = 0.117, p = 0.044), and Continuing Education
Opportunities (β = 0.138, p = 0.017) were all significantly associated with higher levels of overall job satisfaction.
Conclusions: Most optometrists were satisfied with their jobs. Effective strategic planning and management of
human resources for eye-health in Ghana are essential in the development of quality eye-health systems and the
provision of high-quality eyecare services
