Work Satisfaction of Clinical Social Workers Participating in the National Health Science Corps Loan Repayment Program

BACKGROUND: Job satisfaction among clinical social workers participating in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program (LRP) is important for retention, absenteeism, and burnout. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine how the overall work satisfaction of social workers participating in the NHSC LRP differs according to 1. Demographic and practice-level characteristics and 2. Different aspects of work satisfaction. METHODS: Using data routinely collected by the Practice Sights Retention Collaborative from clinical social workers participating in the NHSC LRP, we performed “chunk” analysis to calculate the odds a social worker would have high overall work satisfaction using: 1. demographic variables; 2. practice-level variables; and 3. both demographic and practice-level variables. In a separate model, we calculated the odds of high overall work satisfaction using six satisfaction constructs as co-variates: 1. Work-life Time Balance; 2. Mission and Values; 3. Community Integration; 4. Staff; 5. Administration & Practice Stability; and 6. CompensationRESULTS: Survey response rate was 75%. Among the 113 clinical social workers in our sample, social workers at integrated care sites had lesser odds of having high overall work satisfaction (adjusted OR: 0.12, p = 0.01) compared to clinical social workers practicing at non-integrated care sites. In the model containing all six satisfaction constructs, each 1-point increase in satisfaction with administration and community integration was associated with 2.96 and 2.48 greater odds, respectively, of having high overall work satisfaction (p<0.05, for both). CONCLUSION: Practicing at an integrated care site was negatively associated with low overall work satisfaction among a sample of clinical social workers participating in the NHSC LRP. Satisfaction with administration and community involvement, on the other hand, were positively associated with high overall work satisfaction.Master of Public Healt