Abstract
Purpose
There is disregard in the scientific literature for the evaluation of psychiatric in-patient care as rated directly by patients. In this context, we aimed to explore satisfaction of people treated in mental health in-patient facilities. The project was a part of the Young Psychiatrist Program by the Association for the Improvement of Mental Health Programmes.
Methods
This is an international multicentre cross-sectional study conducted in 25 hospitals across 11 countries. The research team at each study site approached a consecutive target sample of 30 discharged patients to measure their satisfaction using the five-item study-specific questionnaire. Individual and institution level correlates of ‘low satisfaction’ were examined by comparisons of binary and multivariate associations in multilevel regression models.
Results
A final study sample consisted of 673 participants. Total satisfaction scores were highly skewed towards the upper end of the scale, with a median total score of 44 (interquartile range 38–48) out of 50. After taking clustering into account, the only independent correlates of low satisfaction were schizophrenia diagnosis and low psychiatrist to patient ratio.
Conclusion
Further studies on patients’ satisfaction should additionally pay attention to treatment expectations formed by the previous experience of treatment, service-related knowledge, stigma and patients’ disempowerment, and power imbalance.
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Acknowledgements
The study was supported by the Association for the Improvement of Mental Health Programmes (Geneva, Switzerland), and coordinated at Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Klecany, Czech Republic. DK was supported by the NIMH funded by the project Nr. LO1611 with a financial support from the Ministry of Education Youth and Sport (MEYS) under the National Programme of Sustainability I (NPUI). GT is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South London. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIMH, National Health Service (NHS), the NIHR or the Department of Health. GT acknowledges financial support from the Department of Health via the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and Dementia Unit awarded to South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with King’s College London and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. GT is also supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) Emerald project. We would also like to acknowledge our gratitude to the following colleagues for their contribution to this study: Mikhail Sheifer, Petr Morozov, Pavel Bomov, Dmitryi Zhdanok, Natalia Plotnikova, Svetlana Chetverikova, Olga Izmailova, Takhmina Nazaralieva, Evgenii Ershov, Andrey Ikko, Roman Ostrikov, Pavel Kulagin, Dmitry Vinogradov, Andrey Podovinnikov, Ksenia Manyakova, Julia Katernaya, Oleg Chaban, Luana Roata, Maria Magdalena Dumitru, Joanna Murray, Diana Rose and Heidi Lempp.
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Krupchanka, D., Khalifeh, H., Abdulmalik, J. et al. Satisfaction with psychiatric in-patient care as rated by patients at discharge from hospitals in 11 countries. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 52, 989–1003 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1366-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-017-1366-0