Differences in Patient Satisfaction Across Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in an Acute Care Setting

Sexual and gender minority individuals (SGM) experience higher rates and greater severity of psychopathology than cisgender heterosexual persons. SGM individuals also seek mental health treatment with greater frequency than cisgender heterosexual individuals. Studies have investigated types of SGM affirmative mental health treatment, but few studies have examined whether standard mental health treatment is satisfactory for the SGM community. The current study took place in a general partial hospital program and compared satisfaction with an initial psychiatric meeting and with end-of-treatment satisfaction between cisgender heterosexual and SGM patients. We compared initial satisfaction between (a) cisgender heterosexual patients (N = 1253) and SGM patients (N = 334) and (b) cisgender heterosexual patients and cisgender but not heterosexual patients (N = 276), and transgender or gender diverse (TGD) patients (N = 58). We compared end-of-treatment satisfaction between (a) cisgender heterosexual patients (N = 1044) and SGM patients (N = 284) and (b) cisgender heterosexual patients and cisgender but not heterosexual patients (N = 235), TGD patients (N = 49). SGM patients were less satisfied with their initial psychiatric meeting than non-SGM patients. We found no overall differences in satisfaction between the two groups, but breakdown analyses revealed SGM patients were less satisfied with certain group therapies than non-SGM patients. This exploratory study adds to the nascent research investigating SGM patient satisfaction within one standard acute care setting. Future research into the development of assessment measures for SGM patient satisfaction is encouraged, particularly given the dearth of existing tailored satisfaction measures. Public Significance Statement In this study, we propose that the assessment of patient satisfaction in standard hospital settings is essential in determining whether sexual and gender minority patients are receiving adequate care. We compared patient satisfaction between sexual and gender minority patients and cisgender heterosexual patients and found that although there were few significant differences, sexual minority patients did report less satisfaction with several aspects of their treatment than cisgender heterosexual patients. We highlight the need for further development of sensitive measures of patient satisfaction.