Measuring post-decision satisfaction

Measuring satisfaction with a decision after a choice has been made is part icularly important for difficult choice situations where there is no "right " decision and/or where long-term consequences are uncertain. While others have developed instruments that primarily focus on clinical decisions, the authors developed a scale-the decision-attitude scale-in the context of con sumers' choice of health plan. They examined the reliability and validity o f this scale using data from a sample of state employees. While the decisio n-attitude scale has been applied to a health-plan-choice problem only, it can be applied to a variety of other health-related decision problems, beca use it shares a core set of items with the existing Satisfaction with Decis ion Scale. The authors identify and discuss the similarities and difference s between the two scales. They also observe that each scale uncovers an add itional construct not addressed by the other, suggesting that the concept o f post-decision satisfaction is multidimensional. A new instrument combinin g items from both scales may prove the best measure of decision satisfactio n for a variety of health-related decision problems.