Community Dental Health

cover art

Cover Date:
December 2016
Print ISSN:
0265 539X
Vol:
33
Issue:
4

The acceptability of healthcare: from satisfaction to trust

Abstract: The assessment of healthcare quality increasingly emphasises lay acceptability, as evidenced by the emergence of patient satisfaction and patient-centred care in the literature and in policy. In this paper we aim to provide a conceptual overview of acceptability and propose ways to enhance its assessment. Firstly, we map how acceptability’s importance in quality assessments has increased and how the term acceptability has been used as synonymous with patient satisfaction, despite it being a broader concept. We then critique the concept of patient satisfaction and its measurement and challenge its use as an indicator of acceptability and quality. By drawing on our research and those of others, the second half of the paper describes how trust in clinicians and health services has emerged as a related
concept, including a theoretical discussion of trust in healthcare outlining how it can be built, undermined and abused. We propose trust as an alternative indicator of acceptability in healthcare quality and review its measurement. Finally, we consider how healthcare policy may impact on trust and make recommendations for future research.

Key words: healthcare, patient satisfaction, patient-centred care, acceptability, quality, policy

doi:10.1922/CDH_3902Dyer10

Article Price
£15.00
Institution Article Price
£
Page Start
242
Page End
251
Authors
T.A. Dyer, J. Owens, P.G. Robinson

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