Mental health problems and satisfaction with amount of state compensation for intentional violent crime victimization in the netherlands

Abstract

The current study explored whether self-reported mental health problems among victims of violent crime (n = 151) affect their ratings of satisfaction with amount of financial compensation awarded by the Dutch state and vice versa. This topic is important to address, because satisfaction is often used as an indicator of quality of victim services. Relying on medical literature about satisfaction with compensation in patient populations, it was expected that satisfaction levels would be negatively associated with mental health problems. Mental health problems were assessed with the General Health Questionnaire. A threshold of 11/12 on this scale was used to differentiate between victims with and without probable mental health problems. In line with expectations, victims with probable mental health problems reported significantly lower levels of satisfaction than those without. Results remained unchanged after adjusting for potential confounding. Findings were discussed in light of study limitations and directions for future research. © The Author(s) 2011.