Abstract
The purpose of this study was to describe the satisfaction of patients with multiple sclerosis regarding the services they received from their physical and occupational therapists. Eighty-one patients volunteered for the study in response to advertisements and completed the Therapist Evaluation Form (TEF). Subjects had to have been a physical or occupational therapy patient within the last year and also had to have seen the same therapist for a minimum of four treatment visits. Total score and item analysis of the results demonstrated a high degree of satisfaction among the patients surveyed. The content of two open-ended questions on the TEF also showed that patients value therapist characteristics of being friendly and caring. Patients reported less satisfaction with the therapists' technical skills as opposed to rapport issues. These results reinforce the literature, which cites the importance of interpersonal aspects of patient/professional relationships for persons with disabilities. In addition, the initial reliability and validity data on the TEF obtained in this study support its further development as an instrument to measure patient satisfaction in physical and occupational therapy.
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Roush, S.E. The satisfaction of patients with multiple sclerosis regarding services received from physical and occupational therapists. Int J Rehab Health 1, 155–166 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02214728
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02214728