Is patient satisfaction a unidimensional construct?

Abstract

Although patients' satisfaction with treatment has gained much attention, conceptual and methodological issues are not sufficiently investigated. Consequently, well-validated satisfaction scales are rare. In order to respond to methodological requirements being associated with the measurement of patient satisfaction, the Munich Patient Satisfaction Scale (MPSS-24) was developed for psychiatric in-patients. The scale was validated on the basis of three independent samples (n=85, n=161, n=91), and the effects of moderating variables were controlled. In several steps of item selection the initial pool of 133 items was reduced to 24 items, which were subjected to factor analysis. The MPSS-24 demonstrates one major principal component with two minor factors which indicates that doctor-patient communication is the essential source for patient satisfaction. The instrument is of high internal consistency and reliability, and convergent validity is satisfactory.