A job-satisfaction measure for internal medicine residency program directors

To develop a job-satisfaction measure that encompasses the multifaceted job of internal medicine residency program directors.

Questions were devised to measure program directors satisfaction with various facets of their jobs. In 1996, the authors surveyed all non-military internal medicine program directors in the United States.

Of the program directors surveyed, 301 (78%) responded. More respondents than non-respondents held the title of department chairperson in addition to the title of program director (22% vs 7%). Factor analysis and correlation analysis yielded a multifaceted measure (termed PD-Sat) composed of 20 questions and six facets (work with residents, colleague relationships, resources, patient care, pay, and promotion) that made sense based on literature review and discussions with program directors (face validity). The PD-Sat had good internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .88), as had each of its six facets (Cronbach's alphas = .60-.90). The six facets correlated modestly with one another (Pearson's r2 = .12-.67), suggesting they were measuring different aspects of a common concept. The PD-Sat correlated significantly with an established four-question global job-satisfaction scale used in previous studies (Pearson's r2 = .33) demonstrating concurrent validity. Scores on the PD-Sat predicted whether program directors were considering, seeking, or making a job change (predictive validity). The PD-Sat performed comparably well in subsets of program directors who were and were not department chairs, suggesting that it might be applicable to different populations of program directors.

The authors have developed a new facet-specific job-satisfaction measure that is reliable and valid for assessing the job satisfaction of internal medicine program directors. Because job descriptions for program directors in other specialties are similar, it may also be useful in these populations.