title: Patient compliance: a determinant of patient satisfaction?
abstract: Recent studies have shown that there is a distinct relationship between patient satisfaction and patient compliance in orthodontic treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate whether patient compliance, as noticed and recorded by the orthodontist during treatment, can be used as a determinant of patient's satisfaction in the long run. Documentation of 100 patients who completed active orthodontic treatment in the year 2000 at the Academic Centre of Dentistry Amsterdam was analyzed, and compliance scores for patients were computed. Three years after completion of active orthodontic treatment, a questionnaire about satisfaction was sent to all subjects. Items were divided over six subscales on the basis of item content. Compliance and satisfaction scores of both sexes were compared, and correlations between compliance and satisfaction were explored. Regression analyses were done to examine the predictive value of sex and compliance on patient satisfaction. No significant correlations between compliance and satisfaction scores were found. Sex, but not compliance, predicted the patient's satisfaction with the doctor-patient relationship and the situational aspects of the treatment. Compliance, as noticed and recorded by the orthodontist during treatment, is not a decisive determinant of patient satisfaction in the long run. Sex, however, is a predictor of patient satisfaction with regard to the doctor-patient relationship and the situational aspects of the orthodontic treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthodontics, Academic Centre of Dentistry Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a.bos@acta.nl
authors.forename: Annemieke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bos
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vosselman
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hoogstraten
authors.forename: Birte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Prahl-Andersen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D017050:Episode of Care; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009971:Orthodontics, Corrective / Q000523:psychology*; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires