Job Satisfaction of Interpreters Working in Healthcare Settings in Türkiye

Abstract

Türkiye is a peninsula at the crossroads of three continents, a centre of attraction in many aspects, such as migration, tourism, settlement, transport and trade. It, therefore, has to meet the needs of foreigners during their stay in the country. Healthcare needs require an intermediary, hereafter referred to as an interpreter, to establish communication between patients and healthcare providers. In recent years, the healthcare sector has developed highly, and many foreign patients have visited Türkiye for healthcare solutions. The high demand for foreign patients for health care and the developments in the healthcare sector have made it necessary to recruit more interpreters and have increased the demand for better-trained interpreters looking for desirable working conditions and, thus, adequate job satisfaction. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the job satisfaction, job burnout, organisational commitment and trust of interpreters working in healthcare settings in terms of pay, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, working conditions, co-workers, nature of work, communication and overall satisfaction (Swartz, 1999). Data were collected using the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Organizational Commitment Scale, and the Organizational Trust Inventory, and the data collected was scored according to the survey scoring guide. In addition, respondents were asked qualitative questions to obtain exploratory information about the most critical factors affecting their job satisfaction in the hospitals where they work, which may help improve the situation.