The assessment of satisfaction with care in the perinatal period

Abstract

Patient satisfaction is frequently used to evaluate the quality of medical care and to guide the development of health care services. Improved satisfaction is a goal recommended by the Institute of Medicine and the government of the United Kingdom for health care reform. During the perinatal period, dynamic changes in physical and psychological state impose unique challenges in the assessment of satisfaction. This article reviews the measurement of satisfaction with care, together with factors that may influence satisfaction and its measurement during the perinatal period. Recommendations are also provided for further research and development of satisfaction instruments and potential interventions to improve satisfaction with perinatal care.

Measures of satisfaction with care during labour and birth: a comparative review

“…Thirdly, although it is important to recognise the association between a woman’s experience of labour and birth (such as pain and negative emotional experience) and her evaluation of care, studies do not always differentiate between the two [17,19]. For example, a large number of questionnaire measures were excluded that included items that assessed both satisfaction with the experience and satisfaction with care [1,46,47].…”

“…Sitzia and Wood [7] argue that conceptual and theoretical issues should underpin the design and structure of a methodology. Thirdly, satisfaction measures in general have been criticised for being poorly constructed along with having poor psychometric properties including reliability and validity [17,18]. …”

“…However, available measures of satisfaction with childbirth are diverse and range from single item measures to extensive surveys of all aspects of maternity care. Measures do not always differentiate between the experience of labour and birth (such as pain and negative emotions) and the experience of care [17,19]. Therefore many research studies have created their own scales, with little or no psychometric evaluation.…”

Measuring parents' experiences and satisfaction with care during very preterm birth: a questionnaire development study

“…This ‘halo effect’ may be even more evident for parents of very premature babies as the staff have been looking after their baby for many weeks . It is also possible that parents' experiences of their time on the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit may influence their birth satisfaction ratings . Similarly, some researchers raise the issue that women do not know what care during birth should be like and therefore just evaluate the status quo .…”

Good reliability and validity for a new utility instrument measuring the birth experience, the Labor and Delivery Index

“…First, the characteristics and the content of the LADY-X might have involved this skewed distribution. A skewed distribution appears to be the case for many questionnaires on satisfaction with care in the perinatal period, as is discussed in a narrative review by Britton [37] in 2012. According to Britton (page 38), ''most questionnaire surveys tend to report high undifferentiated levels of satisfaction, with very few respondents expressing dissatisfaction.''…”