Development and testing of a scale measuring parent satisfaction with staff interactions

Area of Science:

• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Psychometric Evaluation
• Healthcare Services Research

Background:

• Parental satisfaction is crucial for evaluating child mental health services.
• Existing measures may not adequately capture satisfaction with staff interpersonal interactions.
• A reliable scale is needed to assess parental perspectives on service quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the new Parent Satisfaction Scale (PSS).
• To determine the reliability and validity of the PSS in measuring parental satisfaction.
• To assess satisfaction with child mental health services, focusing on staff interactions.

Main Methods:

• Postal surveys administered to parents of children admitted to mental health treatment programs.
• Psychometric analysis including internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and construct/convergent validity.
• Data collected from 120 parents (52% response rate) across 5 treatment programs.

Main Results:

• The PSS demonstrated strong internal consistency reliability (alpha = .96).
• Construct validity was supported by significant correlations with met expectations (r=0.62), desires (r=0.32), and needs (r=0.55).
• Convergent validity was confirmed through high correlations with established satisfaction measures (r=0.86 and r=0.76).

Conclusions:

• The Parent Satisfaction Scale (PSS) is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing parental satisfaction.
• The PSS effectively measures satisfaction with child mental health services, emphasizing staff interpersonal dynamics.
• Findings support the PSS's utility in research and clinical practice for improving service quality.