Job Satisfaction Among Vietnamese Mental Health Care Staff: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study

In the mental healthcare field, job satisfaction is a crucial indicator of burnout rate, turnover, well-being, and service quality. Various factors may influence job satisfaction for mental healthcare professionals. In low- and middle-income countries, job satisfaction and its associated factors need to be considered to counteract the critical lack of human resources in the mental healthcare field. A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online survey. The survey included sociodemographic questions, work-related questions, and job satisfaction measurements with the Job Satisfaction Survey. In total, 1121 mental healthcare workers across Vietnam participated in this study. Interestingly, the level of job satisfaction of mental health workers in Vietnam was significantly higher than in the United States. Older age, female gender, higher economic area of living, and stable working contract were found to predict job satisfaction, whereas direct care of psychiatric patients and taking care of child and adolescent patients were inversely associated with job satisfaction. The results of this study are essential to develop strategies to improve mental health workers' job satisfaction and thus optimize the quality of mental healthcare services and mental health staff job adherence in Vietnam.