Date of Award

2001

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Counseling Psychology, Ph.D.

First Advisor

Frederick A. Kosinski, Jr.

Second Advisor

Nancy J. Carbonell

Third Advisor

Jerome D. Thayer

Abstract

The problem. The efforts of managed care to balance resources, cost, and quality of services have created new issues among mental health professionals, affecting their careers and having the potential to affect their job satisfaction. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to investigate how managed care has impacted career satisfaction among professional psychologists.

The method. The present investigation examined 21 factors in the prediction of job satisfaction among licensed psychologists. A sample of 1,000 licensed psychologists located in California, Oregon, and Washington was randomly selected from the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. Three hundred seventeen participants responded and 312 provided useable data. Participants completed a 44-question survey; 20 items were from the Short-Form Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (Short Form MSQ; Weiss et al., 1967) and 24 items measured job characteristics and attitudes regarding managed care.

The results. Bivariate correlations indicated that only 4 of the 21 variables were significantly related. Job satisfaction was positively correlated with the number of colleague providers present in a psychologists' practice and negatively correlated with (1) the general perception that managed care has a negative impact on the quality of care, (2) the specific perception that managed care has a negative impact on the quality of care by taking control of patient care, and (3) the perception that managed care has a negative impact on treatment by affecting the types of interventions used.

Conclusions. Stepwise regression procedures that were used in combination with theoretical and statistical criteria resulted in a prediction model of job satisfaction that included annual income, number of colleagues in practice, the general perception that managed care has a positive impact on the quality of care, and the specific perception that managed care has a negative impact on the quality of care by controlling of patient care. Results were interpreted using Herzberg's (1966) Motivator-Hygiene theory of job satisfaction. Implications were proposed and directions for future research offered.

Subject Area

Mental health personnel--United States, Managed care plans (Medical care)--United States, Psychologists--Job satisfaction.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dissertations/758/

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