Objectives: The purpose of this study was to find out the measurement invariance of satisfaction factor structure of hospitalized and discharged patients and to compare the differences of satisfaction assessment between them. Methods: THIS questionnaire was used to measure patient satisfaction before and after discharge in the same interval. We selected 1128 hospitalized patients for exploratory factor analysis to get the satisfaction factor. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed among 685 hospitalized random patients and 641 discharged patients, using multi-group structural equation modeling to test the factorial invariance of satisfaction. We compared effect size between hospitalized and discharged patients' satisfaction. Results: Five factor structures were found in the hospitalized patient satisfaction, which explained 72.8% of the total cumulative variance. Factor loading of the two groups was between 0.78 and 0.92 with factorial invariance. Hospitalized patient satisfaction was higher than discharged patient satisfaction (p<0.001, Cohen's d). Effect size had a medium different level between 0.46 and 0.71. Conclusions: Physical environment and social context affect hospitalized patient satisfaction. Satisfaction perception between hospitalized and discharged patients was significantly different. Construct validity and biases should be assessed in measuring service satisfaction.
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to find out the measurement invariance of satisfaction factor structure of hospitalized and discharged patients and to compare the differences of satisfaction assessment between them. Methods: THIS questionnaire was used to measure patient satisfaction before and after discharge in the same interval. We selected 1128 hospitalized patients for exploratory factor analysis to get the satisfaction factor. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed among 685 hospitalized random patients and 641 discharged patients, using multi-group structural equation modeling to test the factorial invariance of satisfaction. We compared effect size between hospitalized and discharged patients' satisfaction. Results: Five factor structures were found in the hospitalized patient satisfaction, which explained 72.8% of the total cumulative variance. Factor loading of the two groups was between 0.78 and 0.92 with factorial invariance. Hospitalized patient satisfaction was higher than discharged patient satisfaction (p<0.001, Cohen's d). Effect size had a medium different level between 0.46 and 0.71. Conclusions: Physical environment and social context affect hospitalized patient satisfaction. Satisfaction perception between hospitalized and discharged patients was significantly different. Construct validity and biases should be assessed in measuring service satisfaction.