Kontakt X:X | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2025.040

Satisfaction and professional quality of life of midwivesNursing - Original article

Lucia Mazúchová¹, Zuzana Škodová^{1, *}, Natália Černigová¹, Simona Kelčíková², Nora Malinovská³

¹ Comenius University in Bratislava, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Department of Midwifery, Martin, Slovak Republic

² Comenius University in Bratislava, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Department of Public Health, Martin, Slovak Republic

³ Comenius University in Bratislava, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Department of Foreign Languages, Martin, Slovak Republic

Introduction: To retain midwives in the profession, it is necessary to address their job satisfaction and professional quality of life, which was the focus of our study.

Methods: A cross-sectional study design was chosen. The research sample consisted of 156 midwives. A questionnaire was used, the first part of which included questions focused on demographic data, job satisfaction, and positive and negative factors of professional quality of life. The second part incorporated the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL), which consists of three subscales: Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout, and Secondary Traumatic Stress.

Results: The lowest satisfaction was found in financial remuneration, workplace communication, work organization, and work environment. The majority (64.1%) of midwives reported a moderate level of compassion satisfaction. 57.7% had a moderate level of burnout, and 60.9% had a low level of secondary traumatic stress. A significant relationship was demonstrated between professional practice location by region and secondary traumatic stress, between satisfaction with work organization and professional practice location, between satisfaction with financial renumeration and professional practice location by region, between satisfaction with moral recognition and compassion satisfaction.

Conclusion: The findings highlight the need to consider factors influencing job satisfaction and professional quality of life among midwives by improving working conditions, promoting a healthy organizational culture, and ensuring adequate moral and financial recognition.

Keywords: Factors; Job satisfaction; Midwives; Professional quality of life

Grants and funding:

This research was supported by project VEGA 1/0067/25: "The Power of the Status of the Profession from the Perspective of Nurses and Midwives. Reasons and Determinants of the Negative Trend of the Profession Shortage in Clinical Practice."

Conflicts of interest:

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Received: May 16, 2025; Revised: July 17, 2025; Accepted: August 26, 2025; Prepublished online: September 19, 2025