Decision Authority among Dentists from Denmark and Sweden

• Objectives: Karasek and Theorell define job control as the worker's control over work tasks and performance during the working day. This study aims to analyze differences in job control as decision authority over aspects of the work, among general dental practitioners from Denmark and Sweden. Materials and methods: In 2008, a questionnaire was sent to 1835 general dental practitioners, randomly selected from the dental associations in Sweden and Denmark (17% of the eligible population). The response rate was 68% after two reminders. Principal Components Analysis was applied to eight items about influence. Based on the resulting two factors, additive indices were established to measure decision authority: “influence on scheduling appointments” (2 items) and “general influence” (6 items). ANOVA with Tukey's HSD test was used for comparison between groups based on nationality and sector for dentists with/without managerial responsibility. For analyses without equal variances, Kruskal-Wallis test was applied. Results: Influence on scheduling appointments: In both Denmark and Sweden, dentists from the public sector reported lower influence on scheduling appointments than private practitioners (p≤0.01). Comparing dentists from the same sector showed no significant differences between the countries, neither after controlling for managerial responsibility. Dentists with managerial responsibility had higher influence than employed dentists (p≤0.001). Influence in general: For dentists without leadership tasks, similar patterns were seen. In contrast, Swedish dentists with managerial responsibility reported higher general influence than their Danish colleagues (p≤0.01). Independently of gender and nationality, private managers had higher general influence than their public counterpart (p≤0.01). Dentists with managerial responsibility had higher influence than employed dentists (p≤0.001). Conclusion and perspective: Differences in decision authority were found between general dental practitioners working in the public and the private sector in both countries. The results may reflect different management cultures as well as different structural organization of the work. In light of changes in demands made on health care professionals it is important to secure decision authority in order to keep work balance as well as quality in care. The authors wish to acknowledge the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, Malmö University and The Danish Dental Association for financial support.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Odontologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Dentistry (hsv//eng)

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