Measuring post-decision satisfaction

Measuring satisfaction with a decision after a choice has been made is particularly important for difficult choice situations where there is no "right" decision and/or where long-term consequences are uncertain. While others have developed instruments that primarily focus on clinical decisions, the authors developed a scale-the decision-attitude scale-in the context of consumers' choice of health plan. They examined the reliability and validity of this scale using data from a sample of state employees. While the decision-attitude scale has been applied to a health-plan-choice problem only, it can be applied to a variety of other health-related decision problems, because it shares a core set of items with the existing Satisfaction with Decision Scale. The authors identify and discuss the similarities and differences between the two scales. They also observe that each scale uncovers an additional construct not addressed by the other, suggesting that the concept of post-decision satisfaction is multidimensional. A new instrument combining items from both scales may prove the best measure of decision satisfaction for a variety of health-related decision problems.