Applied Nursing Research
Volume 22, Issue 2 , Pages 94-100, May 2009

Job satisfaction of nurses with multicultural backgrounds: a questionnaire survey in Kuwait

  • Naser Al-Enezi, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Ministry of Health, Sulaibekhat, Kuwait
    • ,
  • Rafiq I. Chowdhury, MSc

      Affiliations

    • Department of Health Information Administration, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University, Sulaibekhat 90805, Kuwait
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +965 9503456; fax: +965 4830937.
    • ,
  • Makhdoom A. Shah, ScD, FASAHP

      Affiliations

    • Department of Health Information Administration, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University, Sulaibekhat 90805, Kuwait
    • ,
  • Muhammad Al-Otabi, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Health Information Administration, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kuwait University, Sulaibekhat 90805, Kuwait

Received 11 December 2006; received in revised form 12 May 2007; accepted 25 May 2007.

Abstract 

Background

Nurses working in Ministry of Health hospitals in Kuwait come from 35 countries, and only 12% of them are Kuwaitis. This study explores factors that influence the job satisfaction of nurses of multicultural background working in five general hospitals in Kuwait.

Objectives

This study aims to identify factors related to the job satisfaction of nurses and the effect of selected background characteristics (e.g., age, gender, nationality, educational qualification, marital status, monthly salary, experience in other countries, and years of experience) on the global satisfaction scale by using the McCloskey–Mueller Satisfaction Scale.

Methods

A stratified random sample size of 500 subjects was selected, and a questionnaire was distributed among them. Four hundred thirty-six completed questionnaires were returned, resulting in a response rate of 87.2%.

Results

Factor analysis identified five factors: satisfaction with (a) professional opportunities; (b) praise and recognition; (c) scheduling of duty; (d) control and responsibility, and (e) extrinsic rewards. These together explained 59.5% of the total variance. Nurses were found to be dissatisfied with two of five factors: professional opportunities and extrinsic rewards. Nurses were satisfied with the remaining three factors, although levels of satisfaction were not very high. The relationship of job satisfaction with nationality and marital status was positive and significant. However, a higher level of educational qualification showed an inverse relationship with job satisfaction.

Conclusions

Two issues identified here concerned aspects of nurses' professional development and extrinsic rewards, which have to be addressed as prerequisites to any improvement in the quality of nursing care in Kuwait. Based on our findings, we recommend a concerted action in developing a strategy to improve various aspects of nurses' professional development and extrinsic rewards. This will have a positive impact on the quality of health care of the Kuwaiti population.

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PII: S0897-1897(07)00073-0

doi:10.1016/j.apnr.2007.05.005

Applied Nursing Research
Volume 22, Issue 2 , Pages 94-100, May 2009

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