Department of Physical Therapy Student Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Document Type

Dissertation - NSU Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Physical Therapy

Copyright Statement

All rights reserved. This publication is intended for use solely by faculty, students, and staff of Nova Southeastern University. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, now known or later developed, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or the publisher.

First Advisor

M. Samuel Cheng

Date of original Performance / Presentation

January 2025

Publication Date / Copyright Date

1-1-2025

Abstract

Job satisfaction plays a pivotal role in workforce performance and is closely associated with employee turnover rates. This study examined job satisfaction among physical therapists who had completed an Orthopedic Manual Therapy residency or fellowship (OMT) or orthopedic residency (OMT+Res group) compared to those who had not (Post-graduate Education Group, or PEG). It also investigated associations between job satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intention. The hypothesis was that OMT+Res graduates would report higher job satisfaction and lower levels of burnout and turnover intention than their counterparts. A self-administered survey incorporating the Job Satisfaction Survey, the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, and the Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire was distributed. Statistical analysis revealed no significant difference in job satisfaction factor scores between the OMT+Res and PEG groups (p-values ranged from 0.084 to 0.886). Salary was the only job satisfaction factor that significantly (p values ranged from 0.009 to 0.012 for all groups) explained variance in total job satisfaction scores, with adjusted R² values of 0.031 for the OMT+Res group and 0.034 for the PEG group—indicating that salary accounted for only 3.1% to 3.4% of the variance. Examining the relationship between job satisfaction and burnout and turnover intention for all respondents resulted in a strong negative relationship between total job satisfaction and both burnout (ρ = -0.661, p < .001) and turnover intention (ρ = -0.635, p < .001) using Spearman rank correlation coefficients. Further analysis for each group of therapists revealed no significant interactions were found between job satisfaction and burnout or turnover intention in the OMT+Res or PEG groups. However, within the OMT group, a significant interaction was observed between high job satisfaction and low burnout scores (p = .017). No significant relationship was found between job satisfaction and turnover intention in this group. These results suggest that while salary modestly contributes to job satisfaction, it alone does not account for the complex interplay between professional development and job-related outcomes. Importantly, advanced clinical education such as OMT training may be associated with reduced burnout in select subgroups, offering potential implications for clinicians, employers, and healthcare systems aiming to improve workforce retention and well-being.

Disciplines

Physical Therapy

Keywords

Fellowship; Job Satisfaction; Physical Therapy; Residency

Download
To access this thesis/dissertation you must have a valid nova.edu OR mynsu.nova.edu email address and create an account for NSUWorks.

Free My Thesis

If you are the author of this work and would like to grant permission to make it openly accessible to all, please click the Free My Thesis button.

  Contact Author

Share

 
COinS