Satisfaction of attenders during the establishment of an Australian mammography screening program

Abstract

We aimed to examine the satisfaction and the predictors of reported satisfaction with the service offered by a pilot mammography screening service. Information was collected from 481 attenders at the screening clinic and from 318 consecutive attenders at the recall clinic using two different standard self-administered questionnaires covering respectively six and five dimensions of satisfaction. For the screening clinic attenders, mean scores on most subscales indicated quite high levels of satisfaction. There were no significant differences among different samples over time for the perceptions of technical competence of the staff. Decreases in reported level of satisfaction were found for subscales measuring interpersonal skills, information giving, physical surroundings, convenience and accessibility, and general satisfaction. Waiting times, age and marital status were predictors in most satisfaction subscales. For those attending the recall clinic, mean satisfaction scores for most scales were high, except for the scale measuring satisfaction with the way the results were received. The median time between screening and recall visits for women in this study was 27 days (range 3 to 112 days). Attenders were most dissatisfied with the delay in getting results, an area where the service might improve.