Expectation fulfillment as a measure of patient satisfaction

Previous efforts to determine to what degree patients are satisfied with clinical experiences have been frustrated because of the tendency for patients to give positive, socially acceptable, and invariant answers to postexperience questioning. A new questionnaire was designed and given to 121 gynecologic clinic patients in which expectation was measured as a pretest and fulfillment as a posttest of the same six items. Of a total of 804 responses, 197 expressed increased, and 167 decreased, satisfaction with specific elements of care, a much greater variance than previously reported. Modifications are suggested to increase this test's value in service evaluation.