Patient satisfaction with primary medical care. Evaluation of sociodemographic and predispositional factors.

As patient satisfaction has been demonstrated to influence certain health-related behaviors (e.g., compliance with medical regimens and use of medical services), research has attempted to identify its key determinants. Although the influence of patient characteristics often has been studied, attention has been focused on sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age and sex) rather than attitudinal or situational factors (e.g., confidence in the medical care system and feelings of internal control) that may predispose one toward satisfaction with care received. Data to test the relative importance of these types of determinants were collected in a general household survey of 400 persons. The patient satisfaction scale developed and tested by Roghmann and his colleagues using nonmetric multidimensional scaling was used. Multiple regression analysis was performed on the data. Results show that certain predispositional factors (confidence in the community's medical care system, having a regular source of care, and being satisfied with life in general) are more important predictors of patient satisfaction than patient's age, sex, race, educational attainment, or income.