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The residential therapeutic community (TC) treatment modality has been shown to effectively reduce drug use and improve psychiatric/medical health among clients who are often disproportionately impacted by medical conditions and have a co-occurring psychiatric disorder such as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Yet not much is known regarding how clients’ health may impact their treatment satisfaction. Using path analysis, the interrelationship between PTSD, perceived health, and treatment satisfaction was examined. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A survey including the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Specific (PCL-S), a perceived health rating, and a Treatment Satisfaction Scale was collected from 303 clients at three comparable long-term residential TC treatment programs in New York City.

Findings indicated that clients with PTSD rated their health significantly worse than those without PTSD. Although no direct relationship between PTSD and treatment satisfaction was found, there was a significant positive correlation between perceived health and treatment satisfaction.

Findings likely constitute a regional sample thus generalizability is limited.

Simultaneously addressing addiction, PTSD, and medical issues can improve clients’ treatment satisfaction, consequently increasing treatment retention and producing greater positive post-treatment outcomes.

Few if any studies have examined the extent to which PTSD and perceived health impact treatment satisfaction within residential substance abuse treatment programs.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the rate of satisfaction of the sample population with an emergency department psychiatric service and to explore in open‐ended questions, factors which contributed to these satisfaction ratings.

All psychiatric patients who attended the service and fulfilled the eligibility criteria during the study timeframe received the postal questionnaire (n=55). The Client Satisfaction Questionnaire‐8 was used, which is a brief, eight‐item instrument designed to assess post‐service satisfaction. It has good psychometric properties and has been validated for use in a psychiatric patient population.

It is found that 35 per cent of respondents scored a low level of satisfaction, 29 per cent a medium level and 36 per cent a high level of satisfaction. The qualitative data, completed by 73 per cent of respondents, provided a more in‐depth view from the patient's perspective.

The response rate was low as predicted for this population.

The qualitative findings reveal positive feedback regarding the staff, but patients expressed dissatisfaction about the availability of beds, waiting times for assessment, communication by staff, deficiency of crisis services in the home and inadequate provision of information regarding services. This study identifies factors which contribute to the low satisfaction ratings and identify ways to improve the service.

This mail patient survey provides valuable information for those planning and improving services for patients in the setting of the emergency department. The paper contributes to the limited number of studies of psychiatric services in this setting and identifies ways to improve patient satisfaction as supported by international evidence

This paper aims to review the patient satisfaction literature, specifically meta‐analyses, which critically analyses its theory and use; then to present evidence for perceived service quality as a separate and more advanced construct.

Papers that judiciously review the development and application of patient satisfaction were identified; along with studies addressing the conceptual and methodological deficiencies associated with the concept; and the current perceived service quality theory.

Patient satisfaction has been extensively studied and considerable effort has gone into developing survey instruments to measure it. However, most reviews have been critical of its use, since there is rarely any theoretical or conceptual development of the patient satisfaction concept. The construct has little standardisation, low reliability and uncertain validity. It continues to be used interchangeably with, and as a proxy for, perceived service quality, which is a conceptually different and superior construct.

The persistent use of patient satisfaction to evaluate the client's perception of the quality of a health service is seriously flawed. The key to solving this dilemma may be for the healthcare sector to focus on perceived health service quality by considering the specific concepts and models that can be found in the services marketing literature. This literature offers more advanced consumer theories which are better differentiated and tested than existing healthcare satisfaction models.

The paper points out that there is an urgent need for differentiation and standardisation of satisfaction and service quality definitions and constructs, and argues for research to focus on measuring perceived health service quality.

The study aims to examine the factors influencing the choice of private and public hospitals in Ghana.

Purposive and convenient sampling techniques were used in selection of 225 respondents for the study. An independent samples t-test was used in ascertaining the significant difference in the opinions of both groups. Finally, binary logistics regression was used in ascertaining the factors that significantly influenced the choice of hospitals in Ghana.

In Ghana, patients’ choice of private or public hospital was significantly influenced by service quality, word-of-mouth, type of ailment and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Patients who made choice decision based on service quality were more likely to attend a private hospital. Word-of-mouth influenced the choice of public hospitals more than private hospitals. Patients preferred visiting public hospitals for more complicated ailments such as spinal defects, HIV/AIDS, heart-related problems, etc. Patients registered under the NHIS also preferred visiting public hospital to private hospital. Although services from private hospitals were more expensive, patients were more satisfied with services provided, as compared to patients from the public hospital. Cost of service and patient satisfaction, however, did not have a statistically significant effect on the choice of hospital.

Most comparative studies done on private and public hospitals studied in isolation focused on service quality, customer satisfaction, national health insurance and cost of health care or a combination of them. This study, however, considered all these selection criteria and extended it by adding word-of-mouth and the type of ailments suffered. The study, thus, provided a more comprehensive hospital selection criteria. The use of logistics regression in this particular area of study was also quite unique.

Outpatient departments (OPDs) need to monitor the quality of care and patient satisfaction for continuous quality improvement. Additionally, there is a need for an increase in focused literature on patient satisfaction and quality of health care at a tertiary care level. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to fulfil this need.

A cross‐sectional hospital‐based study among OPD patients was undertaken, where investigators conducted interviews with 120 patients at entry (registration), 120 patients at the OPD clinic (60 doctor‐patient interactions and 60 exit interviews), and a further 120 patients at investigation facilities. Patient satisfaction, client convenience facilities, prescription quality, doctor‐patient interaction and other quality elements as described in the study were given score of 0 or 1.

At exit, 52 (86.6 percent) patients were satisfied with the OPD care. The mean total quality score was 80.9 percent of the total scores. It was above 90 percent of the total score for patient convenience facilities and for doctor‐patient interaction, 76 percent for the prescription quality of the doctors and 43.3 percent for signage display. The mean score for patient‐doctor interaction was found to be significantly lower (3.6/5) among dissatisfied patients compared to the satisfied patients (4.7/5). Satisfied patients reported a significantly higher consultation time (12.4 minutes) with a doctor compared to dissatisfied patients (8.5 minutes) (p=0.04).

Not using a Likert scale to measure patient satisfaction could be considered a limitation. However, the authors also arrived at similar conclusions with their tools as with the use of Likert scales in other studies. Furthermore, findings are limited to medicine and surgery general OPDs in a tertiary care setting. Any interpretation beyond this frame may be done with caution.

Hospitals should encourage good patient‐doctor interaction as it has emerged as the key factor associated with patient satisfaction.

Quality improvements in public sector health institutes can lead to better utilization of health care by the poor and compromised sections of society and can lead to a reduction in the inequity associated with health care.

This paper fulfils the need to evaluate quality of hospital care in public sector hospitals at the tertiary care level. The methods and tools used are simple and extensive enough to capture information at multiple service points.

The study aimed to develop a reliable and valid instrument that could be used to assess the age-friendly Public Health Center Satisfaction (APHCS) among older people.

A cross-sectional study was performed to assess the psychometric properties of the scale. The study was conducted in Manado City, Indonesia, from August to November of 2019 using stratified random sampling. A review of the literature and content analysis identified subscales and items to be included in the instrument. The 268 participants aged = 60 years were completed for psychometric evaluation with a response rate of 83.8%. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Cronbach's Alpha, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Person/Spearmen correlations.

The final scale consists of a three-factor structure with 16 items, which were accounted for 68.99% of the total variation in response. The Cronbach's alpha of the total APHCS was 0.88, which indicated the high reliability and acceptance of the instrument. Also, the concurrent validity was demonstrated by the significant differences in mean and associations among the APHCS scale, the age-friendly Public Health Center (PHCC) utilization, and individual variables, with r ranging from −0.13 to 0.30 (p < 0.05).

Older people are more likely to use PHCCs than others, and they have higher expectations about health services. This study has highlighted the need for action on the quality of healthcare by providers and national authorities. High-quality primary healthcare that sees clients as partners, considering the needs and capacities of elderly clients should be provided as standard. The APHCS scale can enhance our understanding of elderly satisfaction toward the age-friendly PHCC program. Also, the instrument can be used for monitoring and measuring institutions, which is a basis for policymakers to improve and develop the age-friendly PHCC program.

The APHCS scale is a valid and reliable instrument for getting information about the satisfaction of the elderly toward the age-friendly PHCC program.

This Case Study describes how Western Australia's largest home‐care organisation approached the task of obtaining feedback on its performance from its clients. The aim was to use this feedback both as a valid and reliable indicator of its performance, in order to be accountable to its funders, and as the basis for strategies to improve further the services provided to clients.

In all industries, competition among businesses has long been encouraged as a mechanism to increase value for patients. In other words, competition ensures the provision of better products and services to satisfy the needs of customers This paper aims to develop a model that can be used to empirically investigate a number of complex issues and relationships associated with competition in the health care industry.

A literature review was conducted. A total of 50 items of literature related to the subject were reviewed.. Various perspectives of competition, the nature of service quality, health system costs, and patient satisfaction in health care are examined

A model of the relationship among these variables is developed. The model depicts patient satisfaction as an outcome measure directly dependent on competition. Quality of care and health care systems costs, while also directly dependent on the strategic mission and goals, are considered as determinants of customer satisfaction as well. The model is discussed in the light of propositions for empirical research.

Empirical studies based on the model proposed in this paper should help identify areas with significant impact on patient satisfaction while maintaining high quality of service at lower costs in a competitive environment.

The authors develop a research model which included propositions to examine the complex issues of competition in the health care industry.

The purpose of this study is to verify whether information on services would appear as a distinct dimension of satisfaction in a multidimensional scale. Data collection was performed in two phases: 263 patients received the original version of the questionnaire and 200 received an adapted version of the scale. The findings suggest that not only is it important to consider information as a distinct dimension of satisfaction but it is equally important to examine three categories, consisting of satisfaction with information on; patients’ problems/illness; distinct treatment components such as medication and psychotherapy; and patients’ treatment progress.