THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PATIENT SATISFACTION MEASURE FOR PSYCHIATRIC OUTPATIENTS

Objective: To describe the first stage of development of a patient sat isfaction form designed for psychiatric outpatients. Method: An initia l 62-item questionnaire was completed by 172 patients, who were asked to assess the importance of a number of practice and practitioner feat ures in contributing to their satisfaction. Results: Mean scores prior itised the psychiatrist respecting the rights of the patient; appointm ent and billing arrangements were of intermediate importance, while am enity issues were rated as unimportant. When rankings across the sever al practices were examined, very high levels of agreement were demonst rated, supporting the likely validity of the overall rankings. Four un derlying domains were identified by factor analysis, the principal one being defined by respect for confidentiality, by support and adequate communication, The three remaining factors were contributed to more b y practice (e.g. billing arrangements, amenities) than by practitioner features. Conclusion: We consider how a refined and modified version of the measure might be developed for use by both individual practitio ners and group practices, as well as being used as a formal QA compone nt activity.