A comparative study of patient satisfaction with mental health services in Armenia and Moldova

Abstract

Introduction: Mental health is just as important as physical health to the overall well-being of individuals, societies and countries. It is accountable for 12% of the global burden of disease whereas global budgets of the majority of the countries allocate less than 1% of their total health expenditure to mental health care. Morbidity rates for psychiatric diseases in Republic of Armenia have increased from 228 per 100.000 general population in 2006 to 243.6 in 2009. Whereas the prevalence of mental and behavior disorders among the population of Republic of Moldova has grown from 2,599 per 100 000 people to 2,649 in 2009. This qualitative research study examines and compares patient satisfaction with mental health care services in Armenia and Moldova. Methods: An exploratory qualitative study on patient satisfaction with mental health care services was conducted in Yerevan and Chisinau. The study collected data via in-depth interviews. The study population included caregivers of 18 to 65 years old mentally ill patients. A semi-structured in depth interview guide was developed in English, and translated into Armenian and Romanian. A trained interviewer for Armenia conducted 21 in-depth interviews and one focus group, while for Moldova the student investigator conducted 24 in-depth interviews. Detailed notes were taken during the interview and later transcribed in English. The transcripts were coded by words, phrases and ideas, and analyzed by hand. Several ethics committees approved the study.Results and discussion: Four domains expressing the main concerns that the participants had, that influenced their patients’/relatives’ satisfaction and revealing information that would be more helpful to improve the quality of care in mental health were: financial access, commodities in hospital, medical staff qualifications and attitudes, and overall satisfaction of patient and relative. Part of the similarities between Armenia and Moldova is the fact that participants and patients were overall satisfied with the services, despite the shortage of drugs at times, additional expenses it caused and uncomfortable conditions within the hospital.