The differential effects of mood on patients' ratings of life quality and satisfaction with their care.

The recent directives to improve both the quality and the efficiency of mental health service delivery systems have emphasized the need for evidence based treatment efficacy data, yet recent evidence suggests that quality of life data may be confounded with psychiatric symptomatology. The objective of the current inquiry was to determine whether responses to patient satisfaction measures are equally effected by mood-congruent response bias. Thirty-seven patients from a mood disorders clinic in an urban acute care hospital were asked to rate their current mood, satisfaction with their care, and quality of life. While patient rating of mood were highly correlated with specific quality of life scales and predicted 21% of the variance in global quality ratings, the more objective satisfaction indicators were not. For the clinician, these data suggest that clinically depressed patients may view their support system and care givers in negative or biased perspective.