Abstract:
Happiness is characterized by experiencing positive emotions while simultaneously perceiving one’s life as meaningful and worthwhile. Research on the mental health of healthcare
professionals usually focuses on psychopathology as opposed to the positive aspects of
mental health. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine recent literature on individuallevel and organization-level determinants of healthcare professionals happiness. The EBSCOhost, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched for articles published between 2009 and 2019 that focused on happiness among healthcare professionals.
Based on the eligibility criteria, both quantitative and qualitative studies were selected for this
systematic review. The final review included a total of 18 studies. The main measures of
healthcare professionals happiness in cross-sectional and intervention studies were selfreport measures, and the main measures of happiness in qualitative studies were interviews.
Multiple determinants of healthcare professionals happiness were identified in this systematic review. The interplay between individual-level and organization-level determinants
collectively contributes to the happiness of healthcare professionals. Existing evidence
highlights the importance of healthcare professionals happiness in the strengthening of the
healthcare workforce and healthcare systems. This review also highlights the importance of
health policy makers, health authorities and healthcare professionals in creating and effectively implementing policies and strategies to increase healthcare professionals happiness.
Future similar studies should use large and more heterogeneous samples of healthcare
professionals from various settings to generate contextually relevant and robust evidence
regarding methods to enhance healthcare professionals happiness and ultimately the performance of health systems globally.
