Development and validation of an inventory for measuring job satisfaction among family physicians

The aim was to develop and validate a measure of job satisfaction among family physicians. The construct of job satisfaction was developed theoretically, then the semantic network technique was used for the construction of the items. 80 semantic differential items in a random order were related by nine physicians. Four dimensions integrated the construct: "job satisfaction," "health institutions where I work," "my patients," and "myself as a doctor." The average Cronbach alpha was .81. In the factor analysis, four factors were obtained in each dimension except that of "my patients," for which two were obtained. These factors accounted for at least 44% of the construct developed. The semantic network technique may be useful.