Measuring patient satisfaction with health care treatment using the Short Assessment of Patient Satisfaction measure delivered superior and robust satisfaction estimates.
OBJECTIVE
Reviews of patient satisfaction suggest seven dimensions, each of which should be assessed. This study reports development of a short generic patient satisfaction measure for use in routine clinical practice.


METHODS
Participants were randomly recruited from two Australian incontinence clinics. Participants completed a follow-up questionnaire including patient satisfaction items. Iterative Mokken and Rasch analyses derived the Short Assessment of Patient Satisfaction (SAPS) scale from the item bank.


RESULTS
The SAPS psychometric properties illustrated the following features, namely its descriptive system covers all seven patient satisfaction dimensions, there were no misfitting items, and the scale exceeded the Loevinger H criteria for a strong unidimensional scale. The reliability of the SAPS was Cronbach α=0.86. When discriminatory function was examined, the SAPS scale was more sensitive than two other generic patient satisfaction instruments.


CONCLUSIONS
The SAPS scale is based on a firm theoretical model of patient satisfaction and its descriptive system covers the known dimensions contributing to patient satisfaction. Its internal psychometric properties exceeded standard psychometric standards, and it discriminated at least as well as other longer patient satisfaction measures. Although it needs further validation, the study results suggest that it may be useful for assessing patient satisfaction with health care.
Department of Medicine, Northern Clinical Research Centre, The University of Melbourne, 185 Cooper Street, Epping, Victoria 3076, Australia; Mental Health Evaluation Unit, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Level 1 North, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Grattan Street, Parkville, Victoria 3050, Australia. Electronic address: graemeeh@unimelb.edu.au.
Graeme
G
Hawthorne
Centre for Health Service Development, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, New South Wales 2500, Australia; Australian Health Services Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, New South Wales 2500, Australia.
Jan
J
Sansoni
Mental Health Evaluation Unit, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Level 1 North, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Grattan Street, Parkville, Victoria 3050, Australia; Psychosocial Research Centre, 130 Bell St, Coburg, Victoria 3058, Australia.
Laura
L
Hayes
Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Building C3A, Faculty of Human Sciences, New South Wales 2109, Australia.
Nick
N
Marosszeky
Centre for Health Service Development, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, New South Wales 2500, Australia; Australian Health Services Research Institute, University of Wollongong, Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, New South Wales 2500, Australia.
Emily
E
Sansoni
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000628:therapy*
Assessing health care; Instrument development; Mokken analysis; Outcome measurement; Patient satisfaction; Rasch analysis