The contribution of participant, treatment, and outcome factors to treatment satisfaction

Abstract

Treatment satisfaction, which refers to the positive appraisal of process and outcome attributes of a treatment, is a prominent indicator of quality care. Although it is known that participant, treatment, and outcome factors influence treatment satisfaction, it remains unclear which factors contribute to satisfaction with each process and outcome attribute. In this study, we examined the extent to which participant (age, gender, education, race, employment), treatment (type of therapy, method of assignment to therapy), and outcome (self-reported improvement in outcome) factors contribute to satisfaction with the process and outcome attributes of therapies for insomnia. This study consists of a secondary analysis of data obtained from a partially randomized preference trial in which persons with chronic insomnia (N = 517) were assigned to treatment randomly or by preference. Four types of behavioral therapies were included: sleep hygiene, stimulus control therapy, sleep restriction therapy, and multi-component therapy. Self-reported improvement in insomnia and satisfaction were assessed with validated measures at post-test. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine which factors influenced satisfaction with each treatment attribute. The findings showed that treatment and outcome, more so than participant, factors influenced satisfaction with the process and outcome attributes of the behavioral therapies for insomnia. Future research on satisfaction should explore the contribution of treatment (type and preference-matching) and outcome factors on satisfaction to build a better understanding of treatment attributes viewed favorably. Such understanding has the potential to inform modifying or tailoring treatments to improve their acceptance to participants and optimize their effectiveness.

The Role of Treatment Perceptions in Intervention Evaluation: A Review

“…Attrition reduces statistical power and differential attrition introduces confounds. Other participants may not enact all treatment recommendations and experience no or limited improvement in outcomes, which contributes to their dissatisfaction with treatment (Sidani et al, 2018b). Dissatisfied participants may cross-over to another treatment under evaluation or seek additional treatment outside the trial.…”

“…Accounting for treatment preferences is proposed as a general approach to improve enrollment, reduce attrition, and promote implementation of health interventions (Sidani et al, 2017;2018b;Wasmann et al, 2019). Two strategies have been proposed to account for treatment preferences in trials.…”

Prediction of Chinese clients’ satisfaction with psychotherapy by machine learning

“…Psychotherapy satisfaction refers to the client's positive appraisal of the outcomes and process attributes of a therapy. It is a prominent indicator of the quality of therapy and belongs to the subjective experience of clients (23). Although psychotherapy satisfaction does not necessarily demonstrate a oneto-one relationship with objectively assessed therapy outcomes (24), previous research suggested that they were closely correlated and contributed to each other (25)(26)(27).…”

The Lübeck Medication Satisfaction Questionnaire—A Novel Measurement Tool for Therapy Satisfaction

“…On one hand, therapy satisfaction can strengthen the trust between a patient and their healthcare providers [ 6 ], which can possibly lead to better health outcomes [ 7 ]. On the other hand, good therapy outcome can improve therapy satisfaction [ 8 ].…”