[The Vienna Patient Satisfaction Inventory development of a patient satisfaction instrument for psychiatric outpatient services].

Objective: Development of a patient satisfaction measure for psychiatric outpatient services.

Method: A pilot version of the Vienna Patient Satisfaction Inventory (Wiener Patientenzufriedenheitsinventar, WPI) was tested in a sample of 92 psychiatric first-time outpatients. Based upon psychometric testing of the pilot version, and content analysis of patients' interviews, an optimized final version of the WPI was developed that took experts' suggestions into account.

Results: A factor analysis extracts four main factors of treatment related to patient satisfaction: quality of relationship and staff competence, treatment management and treatment outcome, treatment environment, and access to care. Psychometric properties of the instrument meet common standards. To patients, interpersonal treatment aspects are clearly more relevant than structural treatment aspects.

Conclusions: Already the pilot version of the WPI has good psychometric properties. The final version of the WPI represents an optimized instrument to measure patient satisfaction that may help increase treatment quality in outpatient psychiatric care.