Health care users' satisfaction in Brazil, 2003

Abstract

Evaluation of users' satisfaction with the health system brings back longstanding questions concerning the quality of services provided to the Brazilian population. The current study analyzes satisfaction with outpatient and inpatient care based on the results of the World Health Survey, conducted in Brazil in 2003. To explain satisfaction with various aspects of care through a small number of factors, the factor analysis technique was used, through principal components analysis (PCA). Multiple regression models identified associations between satisfaction scores and different sociodemographic variables. For outpatient care, waiting time showed the lowest degree of satisfaction, and in the case of hospitalization, freedom to choose the physician was the worst evaluated aspect. Three components were extracted from the PCA, related respectively to satisfaction with health professionals, health services, and health problem solution. Multiple regression analysis showed that having experienced some type of discrimination (on the basis of gender, age, poverty, social class, skin color, or type of disease) and being an exclusive user of the public National Health System involved a lower degree of users' satisfaction.