Consumer Values and Subsequent Satisfaction Ratings of Physician Behavior

The role of respondents' values in their evaluation of and satisfaction with medical care was explored in four health education settings. Two hundred and twenty-seven nursing, medical, and health psychology students completed a forced-choice instrument designed to measure their value preferences for technical quality of care, psychosocial concern, courtesy, and mutual participation style of interacting in a medical visit. They subsequently watched a standardized 14-minute videotape of a simulated physician-patient interaction and evaluated the physician's behavior from the patient point of view on the four dimensions using two popular methods for assessing patient satisfaction. Respondents' ratings of the medical encounter were more often significantly influenced by their values when the more subjective satisfaction measure was considered. In addition, respondents who valued technical quality more highly were more satisfied with the other three dimensions of physician behavior, while respondents who more highly valued psychosocial concerns were less satisfied with these three dimensions. Ratings of satisfaction with technical quality were not affected by respondents' values. The importance of these findings in assessing patient satisfaction is discussed.