Relation Between Treatment Satisfaction and Treatment Outcome in Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Existing measures of patient treatment satisfaction are largely characterized by a lack of psychometric evaluation, varied definitions across studies, and small numbers of items. The present study evaluated a patient treatment satisfaction questionnaire specifically designed for psychiatric outpatient treatment satisfaction, the Charleston Psychiatric Outpatient Satisfaction Scale (CPOSS), to extend previous findings by examining: 1) the psychometric properties of the CPOSS and the common domains within patient treatment satisfaction, and 2) the preliminary relations between the CPOSS and treatment outcome during exposure therapy in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present investigation included two studies. The first involved 170 combat veterans with PTSD who completed brief psychotherapy, and whose post-treatment CPOSS scores were used for the factor analytic investigations. The second study involved 63 combat veterans with PTSD who received a course of brief exposure-based psychotherapy and completed pre- and post-treatment assessments to investigate the relations between the CPOSS and treatment outcome. The first study supported the psychometric properties of the CPOSS, including identifying four psychometrically-sound subscales for: respectful care, appearance of facility, convenience of facility, and recommendation to friends/family. The second study demonstrated that the CPOSS was a significant predictor of post-treatment PTSD symptoms, relative to demographics and pre-treatment symptoms. Together, these findings support the use of the CPOSS as a valuable addition in psychiatric outpatient settings to both assess and potentially improve patient treatment satisfaction.