title: Satisfaction for quality of life: a comparison of patient and occupational therapist perspectives.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To verify whether the patient's satisfaction with quality of life (QoL) is similar to or different from the occupational therapist's perception of the patient's satisfaction.
  
  
  METHODS
  Each patient enrolled was given the Satisfaction Profile (SAT-P) questionnaire to be filled out personally; the same questionnaire, the SAT-P, was given to the respective occupational therapist who was asked to fill it out by evaluating the patient's satisfaction as perceived by the therapist. A descriptive statistic was applied for socio-demographic data to describe the cohort. Differences between patient and therapist answers to the SAT-P were evaluated using a t-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  12 occupational therapists and 69 patients participated in the study. A significant difference between occupational therapist and patient was found for Factor II (physical functioning) (p = 0.048) and for Factor V (social functioning) (p = 0.011). The comparison of patient and therapist mean scores showed that therapists had a tendency to underestimate patient satisfaction levels for all factors except Factor IV.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results showed similarities between the therapist and the patient's view of the patient's satisfaction with QoL, confirming occupational therapy as a client-centred discipline. However, as far as physical functioning is concerned, it is possible that the professional makes an "a priori" judgement, considering the objective clinical data regardless of the patient's subjective experience of his/her illness.
authors.affiliation: CURA Centre, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy. daniela.leone@unimi.it
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leone
authors.forename: Egidio A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Moja
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vegni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000523:psychology*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult