title: Job satisfaction and perceived future roles of Malaysian dental therapists: findings from a national survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess Malaysian dental therapists' perceptions of their job satisfaction and future roles.
  
  
  METHODS
  A nationwide postal survey involving all Malaysian dental therapists who met the inclusion criteria (n = 1726).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 76.8%. All respondents were females; mean age 35.4 years (SD = 8.4). Majority were married (85.5%) and more than one-half had a working experience of <10 years (56.1%). Majority worked in community dental service (94.3%) and in urban areas (61.7%). Overall, they were highly satisfied with most aspects of their career. However, they were least satisfied with administrative workload (58.1%), career advancement opportunities (51.9%) and remuneration package; specifically income (45.2%), allowances (45.2%) and non-commensurate between pay and performance (44.0%). Majority perceived their role as very important in routine clinical tasks such as examination and diagnosis, preventive treatment, extraction of deciduous teeth and oral health promotion. However, fewer than one-half consider complex treatment such as placement of preformed crowns on deciduous teeth (37.1%) and extraction of permanent teeth (37.2%) as very important tasks.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Majority expressed high career satisfaction with most aspects of their employment but expressed low satisfaction in remuneration, lack of career advancement opportunities and administrative tasks. We conclude that most Malaysian dental therapists have positive perceptions of their current roles but do not favour wider expansion of their roles. These findings imply that there was a need to develop a more attractive career pathway for therapists to ensure sustainability of effective primary oral healthcare delivery system for Malaysia's children.
authors.affiliation: Oral Health Division, Ministry of Health, Putrajaya, Malaysia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abu Bakar
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Community Oral Health & Clinical Prevention, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Mohd Nor
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Community Oral Health & Clinical Prevention, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ab-Murat
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Community Oral Health & Clinical Prevention, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jaafar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002322:Career Mobility; D003153:Community Health Services; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D032022:Delegation, Professional; D003727:Dental Auxiliaries / Q000523:psychology* / Q000639:trends; D003729:Dental Care; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008296:Malaysia; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D009909:Oral Health; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D019037:Urban Health Services; D016526:Workload; D017132:Workplace
keywords: dental services; dental therapists; job satisfaction