Satisfaction with care: a study of parents of children with congenital heart disease and parents of children with other diseases.
OBJECTIVE
We compared parents of children with congenital heart disease (PCCHD, n=1092) with parents of children with other diseases (PCOD, n=112) regarding satisfaction with their children's care (SCC). We also examined the association between parental/patient characteristics and SCC.


METHODS
The parents completed a questionnaire about such areas as satisfaction with care, children's health status, and financial situation. The design was cross-sectional and data were gathered over 20 consecutive days.


RESULTS
The univariate and multivariate analyses showed that PCCHD were more satisfied with their children's medical care and waiting period for treatment of their ill children than PCOD, although the difference was only modest. Furthermore, mothers were less satisfied with staff attitudes than fathers, with the lowest satisfaction among mothers of children with CHD. However, the multivariate analysis indicated that less satisfaction with care was more associated with decreasing child age, unemployment, financial burden of disease, social isolation and psychological distress than with children's diseases, their severity and parental gender.


CONCLUSIONS
We corroborated some previous findings and may have provided new insights regarding determinants of SCC among parents. Interventions to improve SCC may need to address issues of parental psychological distress, socialization, and financial burden of illness. Possible ways of achieving this are discussed. Finally, research in a longitudinal format is needed to further scrutinize determinants of parental SCC.
Unit of Mental Health, Samhällsmedicin, Stockholm, Sweden.
Stephen
S
Lawoko
Joaquim J F
JJ
Soares
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004651:Employment; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006304:Health Status; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden