Petrone Joseph, Fishell John, Berk Nancy W, Kapur Rupali, Sciote J, Weyant Robert J
Graduate program director, Department of Orthodontics, The University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA.
Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 2003 Jul;124(1):41-5. doi: 10.1016/s0889-5406(03)00165-3.
Understanding consumer expectations is important if orthodontists are to be successful in marketing their elective services. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between consumer outcome expectations and treatment variables, including cost of treatment and malocclusion severity. The subjects were parents of patients recruited from 9 private orthodontic practices in southwestern Pennsylvania who were entering a single comprehensive phase of orthodontic treatment, characterized by a full fee and complete fixed appliances. The parents completed a questionnaire regarding outcome expectations for their child's orthodontic treatment. Pretreatment orthodontic study models of each child were evaluated with the peer assessment rating. The results of this study suggest that orthodontic consumers have very high outcome expectations. Also, the parents of patients with severe overall malocclusions, overjet, or midline deviations have expectations that exceed probable treatment outcomes. Orthodontists should consider that consumers seeking their services have increased expectations not related to the treatment outcomes.
如果正畸医生想要成功营销其选择性服务，了解消费者期望至关重要。本研究的目的是探讨消费者对治疗结果的期望与治疗变量之间的关系，这些变量包括治疗费用和错牙合畸形的严重程度。研究对象是从宾夕法尼亚州西南部9家私立正畸诊所招募的患者的父母，这些患者正进入正畸治疗的单一综合阶段，其特点是全额费用和完整的固定矫治器。父母们完成了一份关于对其孩子正畸治疗结果期望的问卷。每个孩子的治疗前正畸研究模型都采用同伴评估评分法进行评估。本研究结果表明，正畸治疗消费者对治疗结果的期望非常高。此外，患有严重整体错牙合畸形、前牙覆盖或中线偏差的患者的父母的期望超过了可能的治疗结果。正畸医生应考虑到，寻求其服务的消费者的期望有所增加，且这些期望与治疗结果无关。
