Illness and Satisfaction With Medical Care

Authors: Judith A. Hall¹; Debra L. Roter²; Michael A. Milburn³

Source: Current Directions in Psychological Science, Volume 8, Number 3, June 1999 , pp. 96-99(4)

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Abstract:

Patients who have worse physical or mental health are less satisfied with their medical care than patients in better health. This article describes research that explores the causal underpinnings of this correlation. Does poor health cause dissatisfaction, or does dissatisfaction cause poor health? And is the dissatisfaction of sicker patients attributable to their own state of mind, or rather to how they are treated by their doctors? It appears that, predominantly, dissatisfaction follows from poorer health rather than vice versa, and moreover that sicker patients' negative outlook is a pervasive cause of their lower satisfaction. However, there is also evidence that physicians' reactions to sicker patients, in the form of curtailed social conversation, also play a role in the reduced satisfaction of these patients.

Keywords: Patient satisfaction; health status; physician behavior

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00023

Affiliations: 1: Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, 2: Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, 3: University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts

Publication date: 1999-06-01