Satisfaction and interpersonal process of care experience of parents with children under chiropractic care

The purpose of this study was to examine the satisfaction and interpersonal process of care (IPC) experience of parents with children receiving chiropractic care.

In this prospective cohort study, the IPC experience of parents was assessed with the IPC-18 at study entrance and following a course of chiropractic care for their child. The study population was a convenience sample of educated parents (n = 671) with an average age of 36.27 years. Data were collected in the United States from December 2016 to December 2017. Parental satisfaction was also assessed with the RAND visit-specific satisfaction instrument (VSQ9) at follow-up. In addition to descriptive statistics, we utilized the Wilcoxon signed rank test and the Kruskal-Wallis test to compare means at 2 and ≥3 independent groups, respectively. Random forest modeling determined factors predictive of overall VSQ9 scoring.

Overall, parents reported a favorable IPC experience in terms of communication, decision making, and interpersonal style with their child's chiropractor and the chiropractor's staff. High ratings of satisfaction were also measured with the VSQ9 (ie, mean score of 92.86; range: 0 = poor, 100 = excellent). The most important predictors for overall VSQ9 rating of satisfaction were parental ratings of satisfaction and effectiveness of chiropractic, that the chiropractor elicited parental concerns and responded and allowed the parent to voice what was important and explained the results of tests.

The parental satisfaction and interpersonal experience of parents with a child under chiropractic care were positive. Factors predictive of overall parental satisfaction were ratings of effectiveness of chiropractic care and subdomains of communication (ie, elicitation of parental concerns and responding to those concerns, explaining the results of tests and examinations).