the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior, job satisfaction, and occupational stress among midwives working in healthcare centers of mashhad, iran, 2014

background & aim: organizational citizenship behavior (ocb) is a voluntary, organizationally desirable action that is not part of the employee’s formal job requirements. job satisfaction and stress can affect mental health of midwives, and investigating the relationship between these variables can improve the quality of healthcare services. this study, therefore, was conducted to identify the relationship between ocb, occupational stress, and job satisfaction in iranian midwives. methods:this descriptive-correlational study was performed on 122 midwives working at healthcare centers of mashhad, iran, in 2014. the participants were chosen using a census approach. the tools for data collection included a demographic questionnaire, podsakoff’s ocb questionnaire, minnesota satisfaction scale, and karasek’s job content questionnaire. data analysis was carried out using spearman and pearson’s correlation, one-way anova, and student t test were by spss version 20. results: the mean age of the midwives was 38.46±7.22 years. ocb had a significant direct correlation with job satisfaction (r=0.223) and a significant negative correlation with job stress (r=-0.270)(p<0.05)  of midwives.  mean scores of ocb and its dimensions were higher than average. the majority of midwives (59.0%) were satisfied with their job and most of them (61.5%) had a moderate level of occupational stress. a significant direct correlation was found between ocb and occupational experience (p=0.034), while there was no significant correlation between ocb and demographic or job variables. moreover, there was no significant correlation between job satisfaction, occupational stress, and demographic/job variables. conclusion: ocb had a significant direct correlation with job satisfaction and an inverse correlation with occupational stress.