The Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Mental Workload
Among Health Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the
Abiansemal District
Putu Dahlia Eka Patni
1 a
, I Kadek Nuryanto
3 b
, I Nengah Adiana
4 c
,
Ni Luh Putu Inca Buntari Agustini
4 d
and Ni Made Dewi Wahyunadi
5 e
1
Student of Master of Nursing Program, Faculty of Health, Institute of Technology and Health Bali, Bali, Indonesia
1
Puskesmas Petang, Badung, Bali, Indonesia
2
Master of Nursing Program, Faculty of Health, Institute of Technology and Health Bali, Bali, Indonesia
3,4
Bachelor of Nursing Program, Faculty of Health, Institute of Technology and Health Bali, Bali, Indonesia
Keywords: Mental Workload, Job Satisfaction, Health Worker, Covid-19, Pandemic.
Abstract: Mental workload is workload due to the activity of using the human brain or mind. Job satisfaction is a
person's emotional state after comparing their perceived performance and results with their expectations.
Health workers are at the frontline in providing services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mental workload
is an important factor affecting the services provided by health workers. This study aimed to examine the
relationship between the mental workload and job satisfaction of health workers during the COVID-19
pandemic in the Abiansemal district, Bali. This was a quantitative study using a correlation cross-sectional
design. A total of 83 health workers were selected through stratified sampling. Data were collected using an
online questionnaire. Data collection was conducted in May 2022. Data were analyzed using descriptive
statistics to measure the job satisfaction and mental workload of health workers during the COVID-19
pandemic. A Chi-square test was conducted to analyze the relationship between job satisfaction and mental
workload. The results showed that the majority of health workers had moderate (50.6%) and heavy (49.4%)
mental workloads. It also showed a significant relationship between job satisfaction and mental workload (p
= 0.004). Job satisfaction is a very important aspect that needs to be improved to reduce mental workload,
which can be done by providing rewards and supporting facilities and infrastructure for health services.
1 INTRODUCTION
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an
infectious disease caused by a coronavirus. COVID-
19 was the number one cause of death in the world
from 2020 to May 2021, and has affected the socio-
economic status of communities and areas affected by
the virus (Kemenkes, 2021). COVID-19 spreads very
quickly through small droplets from the nose or
mouth that spread when someone coughs or exhales.
The total distribution of COVID-19 cases in Bali has
a cumulative number of 44,671 cases as of September
a
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7629-594X
b
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5617-792X
c
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6451-9827
d
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3327-3817
e
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9697-3821
2021 (Indonesian Ministry of Health, 2021). Health
workers are the front line in dealing with COVID-19.
Data from the Badung District Health Office shows
the number of health workers exposed to COVID-19
was 700 people.
The policy created by the government to counter
the increasing number of health workers dying due to
COVID-19 exposure was to reduce health workers’
workload in three ways. First, reduce working hours
to prevent fatigue in medical personnel. Second,
increase the number of shifts for health workers for
more frequent staff changes. Third, categorize
patients to reduce workload (Candra, 2020).
82
Patni, P., Nuryanto, I., Adiana, I., Agustini, N. and Wahyunadi, N.
The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and Mental Workload Among Health Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Abiansemal District.
DOI: 10.5220/0011950200003576
In Proceedings of the 2nd Bali Biennial International Conference on Health Sciences (Bali BICHS 2022), pages 82-87
ISBN: 978-989-758-625-5
Copyright
c
2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
The phenomenon that occurs in the field is that
there are no additional health personnel, especially in
the most basic health service centers such as primary
healthcare centers. Ruiz-Frutos et al., (2022) found
that there was an imbalance of health workers in big
cities and remote areas during the COVID-19
pandemic. For 1.5 years, health workers had not been
able to take leave, which caused their workload
during the pandemic to be high. Nurses' workload
during the COVID-19 pandemic consisted of caring
for and serving infected (positive) patients. The study
used the NASA-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) and
found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the
majority of health workers’ mental workload was
very high at 88.2% (Novira, dkk., 2021)
Another study stated that the mental workload of
male nurses was considered high (Susanti, S., dkk.,
2017). However, no study has specifically identified
how the mental workload experienced by health
workers at primary healthcare centers in terms of the
age, gender, and length of work characteristics.
Physical work environment factors around the
workplace are some of the factors that affect a
person's mental workload (Simanjuntak, R. A., &
Situmorang, 2010). Furthermore, job satisfaction
greatly affects health workers’ workload, as seen
from Christi's (2015) research showing job
satisfaction is influenced by workload. Health
workers’ mental workload is relatively heavy. This is
especially true during pandemic conditions like this,
with the increasing number of COVID-19 cases
adding to the workload; both physical and mental
workloads can cause work stress (Wihardja, dkk.,
2021). At the time of this study, no research has been
found on health workers’ mental workload in Bali,
though it is very important to systematically review
health workers’ mental workload during the COVID-
19 pandemic.
2 METHOD
This was a correlative analytic study with a cross-
sectional correlation approach. This study was
conducted to examine the relationship between job
satisfaction and health workers’ mental workload in
dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Abiansemal.
The sample in this study were health workers at the
Abiansemal District Health Center who met the
inclusion criteria, totaling 83 people. The sampling
method in this study was probability sampling with a
stratified-simple random sampling technique where
the determination of the sample used a random
system (Hariyati & Safril, 2018). The sample criteria
was split in two, namely inclusion criteria and
exclusion criteria, where the two criteria determined
whether the sample could be used. The inclusion
criteria in this study were health workers who worked
at the Abiansemal District Health Center, health
workers who had active STR, were willing to be
respondents, and had signed an informed consent.
The exclusion criteria in this study were health
workers who were in self-isolation and health
workers who were on leave or study assignments.
The instrument used in this study was a questionnaire.
The questionnaire was filled out by respondents
through a Google Form that met the inclusion criteria.
Research was carried out at the Abiansemal District
Health Center in May 2022. The data collection in
this study was carried out through administrative
procedures and implementation procedures. The data
analysis technique used in this research was the
bivariate analysis.
3 RESULT
The table below describes health workers’ general
characteristics, job satisfaction, and mental workload
while facing the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents’
general characteristics consisted of age, gender,
education, work unit, years of service, marital status,
and place of residence. Table 1 shows the distribution
of respondents' characteristics
Table 1: Respondents’ Characteristics.
Variable f %
Age (years)
Adults
Not adults
70
13
84.3
15.7
Gender
Male
Female
13
70
15.7
84.3
Education
Diploma 3 in Health
Bachelor/Maste
r
48
35
57.8
42.2
Work Unit
COVID
Non-COVID
51
32
61.4
38.6
Length of Work (years)
≤ 10 years
>10
y
ears
50
33
60.2
39.8
Marital Status
Married
Not marrie
d
73
10
88.0
10.0
Residence
Rural
Urban
68
15
81.9
18.1
The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and Mental Workload Among Health Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the
Abiansemal District
83
The majority of respondents were in the adult
category, totaling 70 respondents (84.3%). The
majority were female with a total of 70 respondents
(84.3%). The majority of respondents had a Diploma
3, with as many as 48 respondents (57.8%). The
majority of respondents’ length of work was less than
or equa to 10 years with as many as 50 respondents
(60.2%). Judging from marital status, as many as 73
respondents were married (88%). Finally, as many as
68 respondents lived in rural areas (81.9%).
This study also looked at health workers’ mental
workload and job satisfaction in dealing with the
COVID-19 pandemic. Figure 1 and Figure 2 below
describe the details of the data obtained in this study
Figure 1: The Proportion of Health Workers’ Mental
Workload in Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic at the
Abiansemal District Health Center (n = 83).
Figure 1 and Figure 2 show that most of the
respondents, namely 42 respondents (50.6%), had
moderate mental workloads. It is also evident that the
majority of respondents, namely 44 respondents
(53%), had good job satisfaction.
Figure 2: The Proportion of Health Workers’ Job
Satisfaction in Facing the COVID-19 Pandemic at the
Abiansemal District Health Center (n = 83).
A bivariate analysis was conducted to determine
the relationship between the independent variable and
the dependent variable. The Chi-square test was used
in conducting the bivariate analysis in this study, with
the total percentage being in each independent
variable’s row. Table 2 shows an analysis of one
variable relationship, namely between job satisfaction
and hrealth workers’ mental workload in the face of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
The results showed that most health workers had
a moderate mental workload (50.6%), with the rest
having a heavy mental workload (49.4%). The results
from testing the relationship between job satisfaction
and mental workload showed a significant
relationship (p < 0.004) where 65.9% of respondents
with good job satisfaction had light/moderate mental
workload.
Table 2: Bivariate results of the relationship between job
satisfaction and mental workload.
Job Satisfaction * Mental Workload Crosstabulation
Mental Workload Total
P-
Value
Moderate Heav
y
n
(
%
)
n
(
%
)
Job
Satisfaction
Good 29
(65.9)
15
(34.1)
44
0.004
Sufficient/
less
13
(
33.3
)
26
(
66.7
)
39
Total 42
(
50.6
)
41
(
49.4
)
83
4 DISCUSSION
The measurement results of health workers’ mental
workload at the Abiansemal District Health Center
showed that the majority had a mental workload in
the medium and heavy categories. These results
indicate that the majority of health workers at the
Abiansemal District Health Center had a good
maximum capacity for individual mental loads. This
is shown by health workers providing an assessment
of their mental workload during the COVID-19
pandemic season as a mental burden in the moderate
category. However, 49.4% of all respondents reported
a heavy mental burden.
The research results presented by (Z. Fikri, 2020)
show that the majority of nurses at the Labuan Baji
Makassar Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic
season also reported a mental workload in the
moderate category. A study was also done on nurses
at the Kondosapata' Hospital in Balla District, where
the majority of health workers reported a moderate
mental workload during the COVID-19 pandemic
(Nikeghbal, et al., 2021). Mental workload is defined
as the difference between the demands of the
workload and an individual’s maximum mental load
capacity in a motivated condition. An increase in
workload can occur due to a lacking workforce and
health workers’ insufficient abilities to meet the job’s
demands. If mental workload arises due to a lack of
energy, an additional amount of energy is needed to
Bali BICHS 2022 - The Bali Biennial International Conference on Health Sciences
84
overcome the problem. Meanwhile, if the mental
workload occurs because of health workers’ lack of
ability, capacity building through education and
training is the path to overcoming it.
Primary healthcare centers in Badung, especially
in Abiansemal, had met the minimum number of
health workers on duty based on Indonesian Ministry
of Health Regulation Number 75 of 2014 concerning
the Public Health Centers. Health workers at the
Badung District Health Center also had relatively
extensive work experience, allowing health workers
to better manage tasks during the COVID-19
pandemic. Based on the analysis results, 41% of the
Badung District Health Center health workers had
more than 10 years of work experience. These results
show that these health workers already had a lot of
experience. This will affect their ability or capacity to
manage their mental workload. During the pandemic,
there was a surge in patients accompanied by the
submission of reports and personnel confinement due
to COVID-19 infection. However, health workers
who already have extensive work experience will be
able to manage their work and tasks at the Badung
District Health Centers, one of which is the
Abiansemal District Health Center. The majority of
these experienced workers should have a mental
workload in the medium category. Their ability to
analyze situations and manage work stress should be
much better than novice health workers who have less
than two years of experience.
The results of the research analysis found as much
as 53% of health workers at the Abiansemal District
Health Center expressed job satisfaction in the good
category, and the remaining 47% in the sufficient/less
category. These results indicate that the Abiansemal
District Health Center’s health workers are satisfied
with their work and their work needs have been met.
These research results are supported by previous
cognate research. (Hariyati & Safril, 2018) found that
many nurses at a hospital expressed job satisfaction
during the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with these
results, nurses at the Idaman Hospital in Banjarbaru
City were also reported to have job satisfaction in the
good category (M. K. Fikri, Rizany, & Setiawan,
2022). Similar results were also conveyed by
(Apriliani & Hidayah, 2020), who found that most
nurses at PKU Muhammadiyah Gamping
Hospitalwere satisfied in job satisfaction indicators
(88.62%). This study’s research results as well as
previous studies’ results show that during the
COVID-19 pandemic, nurses generally had job
satisfaction in the satisfied or good category. This is
believed to be because support for health workers in
providing services came from various parties and
sectors, both private and government. This resulted in
a mismatch between expectations and the reality for
health workers, especially those on duty at the
Abiansemal District Health Center.
Job satisfaction is defined as an individual's
positive feelings towards their job and the extent to
which their needs can be met by the job. Satisfaction
in general can also be defined as a match between an
individual’s expectations and reality. Nurses’ job
satisfaction can have a relationship with social
support received at work, which can come from
superiors, friends or work teams, and family (Novira
et al., 2021). Based on research instrument results, it
is believed there has been good team performance as
well as communication between fellow nurses and
other health workers in providing services during the
COVID-19 pandemic. This is also supported by the
discovery of good work environment data for health
workers at the Abiansemal District Health Center. In
addition, good work motivation was also reported to
form nurses’ job satisfaction (Hariyati & Safril,
2018). Good work motivation will encourage health
workers to be able to work optimally, enabling nurses
to feel satisfied with the reality of their work. A
relationship between work motivation and job
satisfaction was also presented by (M. K. Fikri et al.,
2022), wherein the results of the research conveyed
that there was a statistically significant relationship
between work motivation and job satisfaction for
nurses at Idaman Hospital, Banjarbaru City.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, job satisfaction
was also associated with the receipt of remuneration
by health workers in charge of providing services.
The Indonesian government, through Ministry of
Health Decree Number 447 of 2020 concerning
Provision of Death Incentives and Compensation for
Health Workers Handling COVID-19, has regulated
the mechanism and number of incentives for health
workers during the pandemic. This study not conduct
in-depth research on the number of incentives
received by health workers, but it is believed that the
incentives received in providing services during the
pandemic season will be able to shape health
workers’ job satisfaction. Previous study results also
discovered that remuneration for nurses had a direct
effect on job satisfaction during the COVID-19
pandemic (Apriliani & Hidayah, 2020). This implies
that the Abiansemal District Health Center’s health
workers would have had job satisfaction in the good
category.
Health worker job satisfaction was found to have
a statistical relationship with mental workload (p <
0.004). Job satisfaction is conveyed as a match
between health workers’ expectations and realityin
The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction and Mental Workload Among Health Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the
Abiansemal District
85
providing services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Health workers at the Abiansemal District Health
Center mostly had a job satisfaction score in the good
category, indicating that their expectations fit their
reality. High job satisfaction will help workers view
work not as a burden, but as a task or obligation that
must be done. This will shape their perception to be
able to carry out their duties as well as possible
without considering the pandemic condition as an
additional mental workload in providing services.
In line with this study’s results and analysis,
(Inegbedion, et al., 2020) stated that there is a causal
relationship between job satisfaction and workload.
These two variables can influence each other.
Workload can shape job satisfaction and vice versa.
Rhythmic results were also presented by (Holland, et
al., 2019), where it was conveyed that there was a
relationship between workload and job satisfaction,
where a significant increase in workload can be the
reason someone leaves their job. In line with these
results, (Goh, et al., 2020) also stated that there is a
relationship between job satisfaction and workload.
The results of previous studies found a causal
relationship between workload and job satisfaction;
in this study, it was found that nurses who had less
job satisfaction tended to experience an increase in
mental workload.
This study had its limits in that the questionnaire
was filled out via Google Form and no assistance was
provided during the process of filling out the
questionnaire, thus allowing misunderstandings to
occur presenting the risk of missed questions by the
selected respondents, thus causing bias in data
collection. Extreme values forced a change in each
variable’s categories from three to two categories to
allow for a decrease in the quality of data differences
that cause the analysis results to be less than optimal.
5 CONCLUSION
The majority of respondents experienced a
light/moderate mental workload in the face of the
COVID-19 pandemic at the Abiansemal District
Health Center (50.6%). The majority of respondents
also reported good job satisfaction (53%). There was
a significant relationship between health workers’ job
satisfaction and mental workload. Job satisfaction
was the most dominant factor influencing health
workers’ mental workload in the face of the COVID-
19 pandemic. Job satisfaction has a very important
role and needs to be improved to reduce mental
workload by providing awards and supporting
infrastructure for health services.
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