Emily Sansoni

Measuring patient satisfaction with health care treatment using the Short Assessment of Patient Satisfaction measure delivered superior and robust satisfaction estimates.

OBJECTIVES 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. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTINGS 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. CONCLUSION 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.

Some highlights of the Australian Dementia Outcomes Measurement Suite (DOMS) project: Social isolation

available on Alzheimer’s disease, and no investigation has been carried out in France on this subject. Methods: We will rely on a quantitative survey conducted by phone with a representative sample of 2013 people over 18 years. Knowledge is assessed by three questions about the signs of Alzheimer’s disease, the difficulties encountered in early disease and preventive factors for Alzheimer’s disease; scores of knowledge were constructed from these three items. A question explores the level of information collected on several health problems including Alzheimer’s disease. Descriptive and inferential analysis were conducted to establish socio-economic profiles and analyze the relationship between knowledge, the level of information and the proximity to the disease. Results: Six out of ten (62%) feel well informed about the disease, which is low compared to the level of information on other diseases such as AIDS, cancer or cardiovascular disease. The older people with higher incomes, regular family caregivers are significantly more likely to feel well informed about the disease. The signs, preventive factors and the main difficulties encountered in early disease are identified by a majority of respondents. The score of knowledge on the signs is significantly higher among older persons having the highest incomes, the more graduates. Only income and diploma influence knowledge of the factors preventing the disease. The scores are equal among not concerned people as among caregivers. Conclusions: While family caregivers feel well informed about the disease, their knowledge scores are not higher than in general population. Specific information actions should be considered with this target.