Family Practice Advance Access originally published online on November 4, 2004
Family Practice 2004 21(6):684-688; doi:10.1093/fampra/cmh617
Family Practice Vol. 21, No. 6 © Oxford University Press 2004, all rights reserved.
The association between maternal ratings of child health interviews and maternal and child characteristics
a University of Adelaide Department of Paediatrics, b Public Health Research Unit and c Women's and Children's Hospital Evaluation Unit, Women's and Children's Hospital, North Adelaide, South Australia
Email: maree.okeefe{at}adelaide.edu.au
Background. Doctors develop the skills needed to interview parents and children in paediatric settings by practice and by receiving feedback during their medical training. Interviewed parents are ideally placed to provide evaluations of these skills. If parents, as consumers of health care services, are to be consulted, it is important to determine whether factors other than interview skills affect their evaluations.
Objectives. Our aim was to examine the relationship between maternal satisfaction ratings of student doctor interviews, and maternal and child characteristics.
Methods. Sixty mothers of children attending the paediatric medical out-patient clinic at the Women's and Children's Hospital, South Australia were allocated randomly to rate one of four video-taped final year student doctor interviews (15 mothers per interview). The level of skills displayed by the student doctor differed in each interview. Maternal satisfaction was measured using the Medical Interview Satisfaction Scale (MISS) and the Interpersonal Skills Rating Scale (IPS), and interview ratings were compared for a number of maternal and child characteristics.
Results. No significant associations were observed between maternal satisfaction ratings and any maternal or child characteristics other than lower satisfaction associated with previous experience of a real student doctor interview (P < 0.01). The interview seen by mothers predicted 53% (MISS) and 65% (IPS) of the variance in maternal satisfaction ratings. After controlling for the interview type, the maternal and child characteristics studied predicted 17% additional variance in MISS scores and 7% in IPS scores.
Conclusion. The quality of the interview skills demonstrated was the principle determinant of maternal satisfaction ratings.
Keywords. Patient satisfaction, physician–patient communication.