Comparison of quality of work life in rural family physicians and other general physicians in Iran

Background: Job satisfaction of physicians in family physician team is considered as one of the important factors for health system. The aim of the present study was to compare the quality of work life (QoWL) in rural family physicians and general physicians with private clinics in Kurdistan province. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 103 general physicians including 50 rural family physicians and 53 general physicians with private clinics in Kurdistan province in 2016. The data were collected using QoWL questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS, v. 16. Descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation (SD) were used to describe the data and to examine the relationship between the variables, T-test was run. Results: The QoWL of rural family physicians with a mean (SD) of 55 (7.6) was higher than average scores. But QoWL of other general physicians with a mean (SD) of 47.7 (13.5) was lower than average scores. The results of t-test showed that there was a significant difference between QoWL of family physicians and other general physicians (t=82.3, P=0.001). In rural family physicians, there is a significant association between the QoWL and gender (t=2.7, P=0.009) as well as native status (t=2.53, P=0.004). In general physicians with private clinics, the QoWL of native physicians was higher than that of non-native physicians (t=4.3, P=0.001). Conclusion: The QoWL of rural family physicians is better than that of others general physicians, even though it is unsatisfactory in both studied groups. Therefore, improving the QoWL of rural family physicians, especially female and non-native rural family physicians, is recommended because promoting the rural family physicians satisfaction can decrease the likelihood of turnover, and thus increase service quality and responsiveness, as a goal of the health system.