Perceived Quality and Satisfaction of Families of Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Roberto Padovani, Barbara Francia, Graziella Pirani, Angela Russo, Fabrizio Starace
The paper describes a pilot study on the detection of the satisfaction of families involved in treatments for autism at institutions affiliated and accredited with the Modena Local Health Unit. The Experience of Service Questionnaire (ESQ) was proposed together with other questions on perceived quality of care: it was possible to collect reports from 90 families, with children aged 7-15 years, who attend ABA treatments (Applied Behavioural Analysis) at two different affiliated private centres. The application of the ESQ results in a series of quantitative data of interest: (1) a good level of general satisfaction of families emerged, with ample homogeneity between the two centres considered; (2) it was possible to identify a relatively small number of families with a low level of satisfaction with treatment (3-6%); (3) parents report a decrease in satisfaction with treatment over the duration of treatment. The results are discussed in light of the need to build a concrete practice aimed at evaluating user satisfaction in mental health services.
Keywords
User satisfaction, Perceived quality, Experience of Service Questionnaire, Satisfaction with treatment.
