BACKGROUND: Mental health professionals are at a high risk of burnout. Positive
psychology outcomes of staff in acute in-patient psychiatric wards are poorly
researched and unclear.
AIMS: To quantify the satisfaction with life and work-life satisfaction of mental
health staff at a large university-affiliated tertiary psychiatric centre.
METHODS: We utilized the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and the Work-Life
Satisfaction Questionnaire (WLSQ).
RESULTS: Two hundred and nine out of 450 staff members (46%) participated; mean
age 48.2 + 9.9 years; 63% were male. On average the participants had been
practising their speciality for 21.1 + 9.8 years (range: 2-48). The mean total
SWLS scores differed significantly between professions (P < 0.05). The highest
levels of happiness were reported by psychologists and social workers, followed
by the administrative staff, the psychiatrists and finally the nursing staff.
Staff scored the highest for work as a 'calling' followed by work as a 'career'
and the lowest rating for work as a 'job'. The mean total WLSQ score differed
between professions, (P < 0.01). The highest levels of work as a calling were
reported by psychiatrists (mean 2.87 of possible 5.0), followed by psychologists
and social workers, nursing staff and finally administrative staff.
CONCLUSIONS: Satisfaction with life and work orientation do not correlate among
mental health professionals. Although highly motivated and perceiving psychiatry
as a 'calling' psychiatrists score low on levels of satisfaction with life.
Improving staff happiness may contribute to increase in moral and counter
burnout.