Satisfaction of nutritionists who work in food service

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective To evaluate the job satisfaction of nutritionists who work in food service in the state of Paraná (Brazil). Methods A survey was carried out with 249 nutritionists through a semi-structured online questionnaire, which assessed their profile, professional activities, and job satisfaction. The Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests and the ordinal logistic regression at a 5% significance level were applied to evaluate the differences and relationship between job satisfaction and the independent variables. Results The average age of the survey participants was 31.9±6.4 years, the majority was female (95.58%), and graduated between 2000 and 2016 (90.36%). The survey revealed that 55.41% of the nutritionists were satisfied at work, 33.68% were indifferent, 6.86% were highly satisfied, and 4.04% were dissatisfied. The variables that influenced job satisfaction the most were age, years of training, income, and workdays in the week. Income explained satisfaction positively. There was statistical difference in relation to the satisfaction of participants regarding their knowledge on food service (p=0.0350), completion of postgraduate courses (p=0.0082), and interest in working in an area of nutrition other than food service (p<0.0001). Conclusion Although most professionals are satisfied, many were indifferent to job satisfaction, which may reflect a low perspective on their current job or poor experience in the food service. These results suggest the need for further actions aiming at raising nutritionists’ perceived professional importance.