Dentists in India feel hopeless as a fulltime academician: A national survey

Assess the relationship between job satisfaction and feeling of hopelessness among dental academicians.

Cross sectional study was conducted among dental academicians across India through email and social media using a pretested questionnaire.

An Internet-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among dental academicians via social media and electronic mail (e-mail) throughout India. Demographics, credentials and job satisfaction across five dimensions (working conditions, pay and promotional potential, work relationships, use of skills and abilities and work activities) were rated on a 5-point Likert scale and a sense of hopelessness was assessed using Brief-H-Neg scale. The results were collected using self-reported Google forms. Bivariate and multivariate analysis were performed to identify the risk towards hopelessness, and the relationship between job satisfaction and hopelessness was assessed using student's t-test.

The mean hopelessness score among dissatisfied faculty was 8.5 and among satisfied was 5.6 (P < 0.05). Tutors, assistants and associate professors with salary of INR <50000/month were highly dissatisfied (P < 0.05), and those willing to quit reported significantly lesser hopelessness compared to no/maybe. Regarding job satisfaction, greater hopelessness was reported with poor work relationships, poor working conditions and poor pay and promotional opportunities (P < 0.05). Dental academicians in India are highly dissatisfied with their career as a full-time teaching faculty. Willingness to quit has a positive effect on hopelessness, depicting the stress faculties experience in institutions. Job satisfaction among academicians plays a vital role in the student's dental learning experience and dissatisfaction will have huge ramifications on the quality of dental education and future graduates in India.