Measuring adolescent satisfaction with nursing care in an ambulatory setting

This descriptive study addresses the topic of patient satisfaction with nursing care. A convenience sample of adolescent females who attended health department family planning clinics in a southeastern city was surveyed to determine the level of satisfaction with care provided by clinic nurses. Data were collected using the Risser Patient Satisfaction with Nursing Care instrument (Risser, 1975) which had been used exclusively with adults. A primary purpose, therefore, was to test the instrument with a teenage population. Data analysis yielded descriptive statistics, frequency distributions, correlations and alpha reliability coefficients. Findings indicated that the teenagers were most satisfied with the technical-professional aspect of nursing care and least satisfied with the interpersonal-educational aspect. The Risser instrument was found to be highly reliable with this adolescent cohort.