Consumer satisfaction with institutional and community care.

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Mental Health Services Research

Background:

• Research on psychiatric patient care has focused on consumer satisfaction with institutional versus community settings.
• Overall satisfaction rates are high (≥50%) in both settings, but limited in discriminative power.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review studies evaluating consumer satisfaction with specific components of psychiatric treatment across four dimensions.
• To compare satisfaction levels between inpatient and outpatient mental health services.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of studies assessing patient satisfaction with staff characteristics, treatment services, physical environment, and autonomy-fostering activities.
• Analysis of findings for both inpatient and outpatient samples.

Main Results:

• Inpatients are satisfied with staff relationships and hospital environment but dislike loss of privacy and freedom.
• Community care consumers report similar staff satisfaction and are more accepting of medication interventions.
• Patient characteristics influence satisfaction levels.

Conclusions:

• Consumer satisfaction with psychiatric care is multifaceted, with distinct preferences for specific treatment components.
• Findings have implications for program development in both institutional and community mental health settings.
• Further research is needed on outpatient satisfaction across the four dimensions.