Job satisfaction among social workers in the Marche region of Italy

The study represents an evaluation of job satisfaction among professional social workers in the Marches Region (Italy). We used a self-administered questionnaire mailed to 1084 subjects, obtaining a response rate of 58.4%. The analysis of satisfaction levels has shown strong variability among the different items. The comparison between the different professional categories has generally highlighted higher levels of satisfaction among operators working within the National Health Services compared to those working within Municipal Agency. The search for overall satisfaction predictors has been carried out using the classification tree technique. Among NHS employees the main determinants are: working autonomy, perception that families have of social workers’ the contribution, skill improvement and the exchange of information with colleagues. While for Municipal Agencies the most relevant are: skill improvement, recognition received from superiors, professional challenges and help received from colleagues. Finally, the Priority Index has highlighted those items which require corrective actions.