Assessment of psychiatric inpatient satisfaction: a systematic review of self-reported instruments

There is a growing concern about satisfaction with inpatient psychiatric services. There are currently numerous satisfaction instruments available to psychiatric inpatients, but little guidance on which among them to select.

To provide an overview of the psychometric properties and the content of satisfaction instruments available to psychiatric inpatients.

Systematic searches of Medline database to identify inpatient satisfaction questionnaires. Assessment of the instruments according to relevant psychometric properties.

Fifteen satisfaction instruments were identified. The target population differed according to the instrument. Methods used to generate items were heterogeneous. These instruments were based on a mixed approach including patients' points of view, expert opinions, and literature reviews, causing the content of questionnaires to vary. Reliability and validity were not systematically tested.

The validation of a common inpatient satisfaction instrument is a major challenge. Recommendations for the future development of satisfaction instruments may include: item generation based exclusively on the patient's point of view; a validation process on a large and representative population; and an instrument combining generic (core questionnaire) and specific (additional modules) approaches.