Background: Job satisfaction has a major impact on mental health and job performance.

Additionally, expected work satisfaction may influence choice of specialization within

medicine.

Methods: A postal survey was conducted in 2009 among the members (N=1398) of

Finnish Psychiatric Association. Out of the members 1132 were still working-aged.

All in all 64.8% (N=738) of the working-aged members returned the survey. Only

psychiatrists and residents were included in the final cohort of the study (N=665).

Factors associated to work satisfaction were studied and a principal component analysis

was conducted on factors reported to disturb working. The correlations of factors

scores with job satisfaction and job-control were analyzed. Spearman correlation

coefficients were calculated between factor scores and work satisfaction.

Results: Most respondents (73.8%) were satisfied with their work. Job satisfaction

showed a negative correlation with increase in pace of work (rho=-0.24, p<0.001). Job

control correlated positively with job satisfaction (rho=0.46, p<0.001). "Working

conditions" factor explained 28.6%, "leadership" 8.8%, "failure without support" 7.8%,

fear at work 6.5% and "patient records" factors 5.9% of the variation of perceived

harmful factors at work. "Working conditions" and "leadership" factors showed the

strongest and most significant negative correlations with job satisfaction (rho=

-0.45, p<0.001, rho=-0.32, p<0.001, respectively. "Working conditions" associated

strongly and significantly with job control (rho=-0.57, p<0.001).

Conclusion: Job satisfaction may be better than expected among psychiatrists

considering the findings of prevalence estimates of burnout in various other studies.

However, employers should put emphasis on matching employers and type of work to

promote well-being of their employees.