ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To develop and test the validity and reliability of a brief self-completed questionnaire (Service Satisfaction Scale: SSS) for routinely assessing the quality of service in psychiatric ward inpatients. METHODS: A 30-item multidimensional questionnaire was developed by several steps of face validity and content validity. The questionnaire was administered to inpatients (n=348) discharged from psychiatric hospitals, general hospitals, and university hospitals. Construct validity was supported by performing principal component analysis. Reliability was estimated by calculating internal consistency of Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: Factor analysis yielded five factors comprising staff attitude, treatment quality, ward environment, access/cost, and ward rule, which account for 63.04% of the common variance. The internal consistency of the scale was high (Cronbach's alpha=0.95). The concurrent validity was supported by the significant correlation of each of five factors with item that measured overall satisfaction of SSS. Patients with neurosis (anxiety disorder, somatoform disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder) and mood disorders were significantly satisfied than those with psychosis and alcoholic disorders. Patients who admitted voluntarily were more significantly satisfied than those who admitted involuntarily. Sociodemographic variables such as age, gender, marital status, monthly income, education level, employment status and religion were not significantly different at the total scores of SSS. Similarly, clinical characteristics such as age of onset, duration of illness, lengths of hospital stay and number of previous hospitalization did not associate significantly with the total scores of SSS. Patients discharged from university hospitals were significantly more satisfied than those of the general and psychiatric hospitals. CONCLUSION: SSS performed well in the validity and reliability, indicating that it can be a useful tool for measuring satisfaction of psychiatric inpatients in Korea.
Subject(s)
Humans , Age of Onset , Alcoholics , Attitude of Health Personnel , Education , Employment , Hospitalization , Hospitals, General , Hospitals, Psychiatric , Hospitals, University , Inpatients , Korea , Length of Stay , Marital Status , Mood Disorders , Patient Satisfaction , Principal Component Analysis , Psychotic Disorders , Surveys and Questionnaires , Reproducibility of Results , Somatoform DisordersABSTRACT
The diverse effects of antidepressants on sleep are mediated by their agonistic or antagonistic properties on specific neurotransmitters: the catecholamine, serotonergic, cholinergic, and histaminergic neurotransmitter systems, which also regulate the timing and cycling of sleep. Therefore, antidepressants can have both class- and compound-specific effects on sleep/wake dynamics, sleep stages, and on motor control during sleep. For these reasons, the sedating or wake-promoting effects of these medications are important factors influencing specific drug selection. As these sleep-related effects may in turn influence both medication compliance as well as the course of the disease state itself, it is important for clinicians to understand and predict the possible effects of antidepressants on sleep. Some antidepressants, such as amitriptyline, doxepine, trazodone, and mirtazapine, possess sedating properties and improve sleep continuity via alpha-1 adrenoceptors and histamine H1 receptor blockade, combined with 5HT(2A/2C) receptor blockade. Other antidepressants, such as SSRI, SNRI and MAOIs, worsen sleep and may cause insomnia, an effect which may be linked to facilitation of 5HT(2A/2C) receptors. The majority of antidepressants are REM (rapid eye movement) suppressants, though some, such as nefazodone, bupropion, and mirtazapine, lack REM-suppressing effects. On the other hand, the effects of antidepressants on slow wave sleep (SWS) are much less consistent than their effects on REM sleep. Available data suggest that antidepressants, including some TCAs, and trazodone, increase SWS, possibly as a function of their 5-HT(2A/2C) receptor antagonism. In contrast, antidepressants lacking 5-HT(2A/2C) receptor antagonist effects, including SSRIs, SNRIs and MAOIs, may produce no change or even decrease in SWS. Knowledge of the effects of antidepressants on sleep will be helpful in estimating the sleep disturbance caused by these compounds, and can thus help in the selection of appropriate compound for individual patients.