title: The relationship between patient satisfaction with physical therapy care and global rating of change reported by patients receiving worker's compensation.
abstract: This study examined relationships between patient satisfaction with physical therapy care and global rating of change; 1,944 respondents completed the Medrisk Instrument for Measuring Patient Satisfaction with Physical Therapy Care (MR-12) and a nine-point Global Rating of Change Scale (GROC) following a course of physical therapy for a work-related musculoskeletal problem. Ninety percent of all respondents reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their overall care, whereas 70.1% of all respondents indicated they improved following treatment. Respondents who reported improvement had significantly higher scores for all measures of satisfaction (p<0.01) than did those who reported failure to improve; however, both of these groups had mean scores of greater than 4.0 on the MR-12, indicating that respondents were likely to be satisfied or very satisfied with care regardless of perceived change following treatment. Scores>4.0 from the MR-12 had high sensitivity to detect those respondents classified as "improved" (0.87-0.95), but low specificity to differentiate between those who were classified as "improved" and those who were classified as "did not improve" (0.22-0.30). Our findings support the hypothesis that patient satisfaction with care is primarily independent of perceived clinical change.
authors.affiliation: Program in Physical Therapy, Department of Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA. pbeattie@mailbox.sc.edu
authors.forename: Paul F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Beattie
authors.forename: Roger M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heintzelman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010465:Perception; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States; D014942:Workers' Compensation