Satisfaction with mental health services among schizophrenic patients in five European countries: results from the EPSILON study
Please note: this is a legacy publication from CPEC (formely PSSRU at LSE).Schizophrenia Bulletin 29 2 229-245
Available online: 1 January 2003
Abstract
Patient satisfaction with services is an important outcome variable that is increasingly used in mental health service evaluation. This study includes 404 people with schizophrenia in five European sites and addresses five questions focused on site, service, and patient characteristics as variables that might explain service satisfaction, using the Verona Service Satisfaction Scale. Patient satisfaction differed significantly across sites (highest in Copenhagen, lowest in London). In all sites, patients were least satisfied with involvement of relatives in care and information about illness. A multiple regression model showed that lower levels of total service satisfaction were associated with living in London or Santander, being retired/unemployed, having more hospital admissions, having more severe psychopathology, having more unmet needs, or having lower satisfaction with life. This model explained 31 percent of variance in service satisfaction. Our data show that service satisfaction can be seen as a result of (1) the ability of the service to provide a standard of care above a certain quality threshold, and (2) the perception of each patient that the care received has been tailored to the patient's own problems.
Patient satisfaction with services is an important outcome variable that is increasingly used in mental health service evaluation. This study includes 404 people with schizophrenia in five European sites and addresses five questions focused on site, service, and patient characteristics as variables that might explain service satisfaction, using the Verona Service Satisfaction Scale. Patient satisfaction differed significantly across sites (highest in Copenhagen, lowest in London). In all sites, patients were least satisfied with involvement of relatives in care and information about illness. A multiple regression model showed that lower levels of total service satisfaction were associated with living in London or Santander, being retired/unemployed, having more hospital admissions, having more severe psychopathology, having more unmet needs, or having lower satisfaction with life. This model explained 31 percent of variance in service satisfaction. Our data show that service satisfaction can be seen as a result of (1) the ability of the service to provide a standard of care above a certain quality threshold, and (2) the perception of each patient that the care received has been tailored to the patient's own problems.