Longitudinal assessment of parental satisfaction with children's psychiatric hospitalization

Objective: To examine trends over time in parents' satisfaction with their children's prior psychiatric hospitalization and whether such trends are related to postdischarge outcomes. Study Design/Data Collection: Parents of 107 child inpatients completed a satisfaction survey at discharge. Satisfaction with the same inpatient stay was re-assessed 3, 6, and 12 months after discharge. Parents also provided ratings of behavioral symptoms at admission, discharge, and at postdischarge follow-ups. Principal Findings: Random regression analyses indicated significant decline in satisfaction from discharge to follow-up. The proportion of parents reporting that they were not satisfied doubled between discharge and 3-month follow-up. Parents whose satisfaction appraisals shifted from satisfied at discharge to not satisfied at follow-up also provided mean ratings of their child's disruptive behavioral problems at follow-up that were higher than those of parents who reported satisfaction with inpatient care at both times. Conclusions: Findings suggest that appraisals of inpatient care are subject to change, and may become more negative when clinical improvement associated with hospitalization dissipates in the months following discharge.