 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Karen A. Swanson, PhD, Department of Health Services/ School of Public Health, UCLA, Campus Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, 310/452-7757, kswanphd@earthlink.net, Roshan Bastani, PhD, University of California - Los Angeles, 650 S. Charles Young Dr., P.O. Box 956900, A2- 125 CHS, Los Angeles, CA 90095, Lisa V. Rubenstein, MD, MSPH, RAND, VA Greater Los Angeles, UCLA, & RAND, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407, Lisa S. Meredith, PhD, RAND, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407, and Dan Ford, MD, MPH, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, 2024 E. Monument Street, Suite 2-500, Baltimore, MD 21205.
BACKGROUND: This study sought to understand if shared decisionmaking and/or receipt of mental health care was associated with patient satisfaction for patients with depression and to determine whether gender modified this relationship.
METHODS: The data for this research are from the Quality Improvement for Depression study, a national collaborative study of 1,481 patients diagnosed with major depression in managed care settings. The analyses were performed using factor analysis and multiple logistic regression on a sample of 1,317 patients who answered both the baseline and month 6 questionnaires. Receipt of mental health services was defined as receiving any psychotropic medication and/or at least 4 specialty mental health visits. Shared decisionmaking was measured by creating a scale from three self-rated items: 1) your involvement in decisions about your care; 2) being given a choice of treatments for your problems; and 3) explanations of your health problems.
RESULTS: Shared decisionmaking (OR=2.93; p<0.0001) and receipt of mental health care (OR= 1.61; p<0.01) were both positively associated with patient satisfaction. Gender was not a moderator of this relationship.
CONCLUSION: Satisfaction among patients with depression was positively influenced by their rating of shared decisionmaking as well as their receipt of mental health care. Health plans can improve satisfaction levels by teaching physicians the importance of shared decisionmaking. Contrary to expectations, gender made no difference in the effects of quality of care on patient satisfaction.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Patient Satisfaction, Adult and Child Mental Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.