The male minority: Job satisfaction of men in occupational therapy

Occupational therapy is a female dominated profession: only 3% of all clinicians are men. The purpose of this investigation was to identify variables that affect the job satisfaction of male occupational therapists. Specifically, the study examined five job satisfaction factors (work, pay, coworkers, supervision, and promotional opportunities), work environment traits, community role strain, colleague role strain, patient role strain, role ambiguity, role conflict, role overload, and specific demographic characteristics of male occupational therapists. A mailed survey questionnaire was sent to all male clinicians who were members of the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists (n = 199) during the 1990–1991 membership year. Eighty-three percent of the sample responded (n = 164). Of these, 74% said they expect to leave the occupational therapy profession within 10 years. Most male occupational therapists reside in Ontario, are 33 years old, work with an adult client case load in a general hospital setting, and spend half their time in direct client care. Respondents indicated that, as a group, they are very dissatisfied with their work, pay, promotional opportunities, supervision, and coworkers. Male occupational therapists rated their work environments as above average in terms of physical comfort, but below average for control. As a group, male occupational therapists experience an average level of community, colleague, and patient role strain. Similarly, they experience an average degree of role conflict and role overload, but reported a low level of role ambiguity. Significant predictors of respondents' global job satisfaction were examined by multiple regression analysis. Five factors were determined to be significant predictors of global job satisfaction: community role strain, number of hours of overtime worked on a weekly basis, involvement, year of graduation from professional training, and colleague role strain. Recommendations for occupational therapy personnel and future research are made based on these results.