title: A clinically useful self-report measure of psychiatric patients' satisfaction with the initial evaluation.
abstract: Patient satisfaction is one component of the quality of care. Studies of satisfaction in samples of established patients are biased because dissatisfied patients are more likely to have dropped out of treatment. We, therefore, sought to develop a new instrument assessing patients' satisfaction with the initial psychiatric evaluation. In the present report from the Rhode Island Methods to Improve Diagnostic Assessment and Services (MIDAS) project we describe the development, reliability, and validity of the Clinically Useful Patient Satisfaction Scale (CUPSS). The CUPSS is a brief, self-administered questionnaire covering 3 areas: clinician's attitude and behavior, office environment and staff, and overall satisfaction. A sample of psychiatric outpatients (n=412) and partial hospital patients (n=500) completed the measure immediately after their initial meeting with the psychiatrist. The scale had high internal consistency, and all item-scale correlations were significant. All items were significantly correlated with each of the indicators of global satisfaction. There was sufficient variability in satisfaction ratings to detect differences amongst clinicians. The results of the present study of psychiatric outpatients and partial hospital patients indicate that the CUPSS was minimally to not at all burdensome to complete, it had good psychometric properties, and it can discriminate amongst clinicians.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA. Electronic address: mzimmerman@lifespan.org.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gazarian
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Multach
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Naureen
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Attiullah
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Talya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Benoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Daniela A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Boerescu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Lucille B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Mehring
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Sumi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Sandhya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Carolina Guzman
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Holst
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D063189:Symptom Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards