The Relationship between Clinical Competency and Job Satisfaction of Occupational Therapists in Tehran

Considering the significance of investigating the factors affecting occupational therapist's job satisfaction, the present study was conducted to study the relationship between clinical competency and job satisfaction of occupational therapists in Tehran.
A total of 62 occupational therapists (18 males and 44 females), aged between 23-48 (M=29.58, SD=6.96), employed in governmental organizations and private sectors, participated in the present study on a voluntary basis. Herzberg's Scale of Job Satisfaction and Occupational Therapists Clinical Competency Scale were used for data collection. SPSS (v. 18) was utilized for data analysis running Two-Independent-Samples test, Spearman correlation, and multiple regression analysis.
The results of Pearson correlation test revealed that there is no significantrelationship between clinical competency and job satisfaction (p=0.234). No significant difference was found between areas of clinical competency, i.e. professional responsibility (p=0.335), functional knowledge (p=0.194), performance process (p=0.124), critical thinking (p=0.127), effective communication (p=0.161), professional development (p=0.932), management of practice environment (p=0/309), and job satisfaction, either. Multiple regression analysis showed that only professional responsibility (p=0.001) had a significant role in predicting job satisfaction of occupational therapists, and other areas of clinical competency, including functional knowledge (p=0.119), performance process (p=0.289), critical thinking (p=0.960), effective communication (p=0.169), professional development (p=0.091), and treatment environmental management (p=0.316) had no significant effect.
Paying attention to the professional responsibility of occupational therapists was demonstrated to have the most important role in the improvement of their job satisfaction.