Mazor Kathleen M, Clauser Brian E, Field Terry, Yood Robert A, Gurwitz Jerry H
Meyers Primary Care Institute, Fallon Healthcare System and University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester 01605, USA.
Health Serv Res. 2002 Oct;37(5):1403-17. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.11194.
The purposes of the present study were to examine patient satisfaction survey data for evidence of response bias, and to demonstrate, using simulated data, how response bias may impact interpretation of results.
Patient satisfaction ratings of primary care providers (family practitioners and general internists) practicing in the context of a group-model health maintenance organization and simulated data generated to be comparable to the actual data.
Correlational analysis of actual patient satisfaction data, followed by a simulation study where response bias was modeled, with comparison of results from biased and unbiased samples.
A positive correlation was found between mean patient satisfaction rating and response rate in the actual patient satisfaction data. Simulation results suggest response bias could lead to overestimation of patient satisfaction overall, with this effect greatest for physicians with the lowest satisfaction scores.
Findings suggest that response bias may significantly impact the results of patient satisfaction surveys, leading to overestimation of the level of satisfaction in the patient population overall. Estimates of satisfaction may be most inflated for providers with the least satisfied patients, thereby threatening the validity of provider-level comparisons.
本研究旨在检查患者满意度调查数据是否存在回应偏差的证据，并通过模拟数据展示回应偏差如何影响结果的解释。
在团体模式健康维护组织环境中执业的初级保健提供者（家庭医生和普通内科医生）的患者满意度评分，以及生成的与实际数据可比的模拟数据。
对实际患者满意度数据进行相关性分析，随后进行模拟研究，在该研究中对回应偏差进行建模，并比较有偏差和无偏差样本的结果。
在实际患者满意度数据中，患者平均满意度评分与回应率之间存在正相关。模拟结果表明，回应偏差可能导致总体上对患者满意度的高估，对满意度得分最低的医生而言，这种影响最大。
研究结果表明，回应偏差可能会显著影响患者满意度调查的结果，导致总体上高估患者群体的满意度水平。对于患者满意度最低的提供者，满意度估计可能被夸大得最多，从而威胁到提供者层面比较的有效性。
