Work satisfaction of Japanese public health nurses: assessing validity and reliability of a scale

The Index of Work Satisfaction, developed by Stamps et al., was administered to 583 nurses who had practiced public health nursing in Japan. After psychometric evaluation, three components were identified as contributing to their job satisfaction: the work environment, professional confidence, and commitment to the profession. Overall, the participants in the study were quite satisfied. The findings corroborated previous reports on Japanese nurses' job satisfaction, in that the nurses in the study were most satisfied with their relationships with peers, patients/families, and supervisors. However, they were least satisfied with having enough time for client care, having confidence, and promotion opportunities. The implications are discussed, to the effect that understanding the factors related to public health nurses' job satisfaction could help administrators to improve regulations and other issues related to the work environment.