. 2015 Oct 20;5(2):020403. doi: 10.7189/jogh.05.020403

Table 1.

Summary of individual and systematic factors influencing user satisfaction with health services

Individual characteristics	System characteristics
Age: Older people are generally more satisfied [10-15] Gender: Some studies showing females are generally more satisfied, [11,16] although some showing more inconsistent results with the direction of effect [10,12,13,15] Education level: less educated are found to be more satisfied in some studies [16,17], inconsistent direction in others [12,13] Geographical variation: rural areas tend to be more satisfied than urban population [10] Health status: people in a good state of health tend to be more satisfied, [13,14] but findings are somewhat inconsistent [10,17-19] Frequency of visits to doctor: increased frequency, increase in satisfaction [20] Psycho–social determinants: various determinants associated, [10,21] most importantly seems to be ‘prior expectations of the patient’ [22]. Lower expectations, higher satisfaction [19] Outcome satisfaction: increased satisfaction with better health outcomes [10,14,19,21] Socioeconomic status: inconsistent direction depending on variable used [18] Ethnicity: little consistency [12,13]	Physician level: patient–centeredness and professional skills positively affect satisfaction [10,11,14,15,17,18,20,21,23-26] Visible facilities: more visibly pleasing, clean etc. facilities associated with increased satisfaction [24] Accessibility: Cost, availability, convenience of care, and waiting times all have effects on satisfaction [10,12,16,23,24,27] Choice of provider: less choice associated with less satisfaction [16,23] Continuity of care: more continuous care increases satisfaction [10,18,27] Completeness of care: more complete care offered by physicians increases satisfaction [27] Service delivery: more efficient processes, organized procedures, and quality of services increase satisfaction [19,26-28]

Individual characteristics

System characteristics

Age: Older people are generally more satisfied [10-15] Gender: Some studies showing females are generally more satisfied, [11,16] although some showing more inconsistent results with the direction of effect [10,12,13,15] Education level: less educated are found to be more satisfied in some studies [16,17], inconsistent direction in others [12,13] Geographical variation: rural areas tend to be more satisfied than urban population [10] Health status: people in a good state of health tend to be more satisfied, [13,14] but findings are somewhat inconsistent [10,17-19] Frequency of visits to doctor: increased frequency, increase in satisfaction [20] Psycho–social determinants: various determinants associated, [10,21] most importantly seems to be ‘prior expectations of the patient’ [22]. Lower expectations, higher satisfaction [19] Outcome satisfaction: increased satisfaction with better health outcomes [10,14,19,21] Socioeconomic status: inconsistent direction depending on variable used [18] Ethnicity: little consistency [12,13]

Physician level: patient–centeredness and professional skills positively affect satisfaction [10,11,14,15,17,18,20,21,23-26] Visible facilities: more visibly pleasing, clean etc. facilities associated with increased satisfaction [24] Accessibility: Cost, availability, convenience of care, and waiting times all have effects on satisfaction [10,12,16,23,24,27] Choice of provider: less choice associated with less satisfaction [16,23] Continuity of care: more continuous care increases satisfaction [10,18,27] Completeness of care: more complete care offered by physicians increases satisfaction [27] Service delivery: more efficient processes, organized procedures, and quality of services increase satisfaction [19,26-28]