Satisfaction With Service Delivery Among People With HIV in Taiwan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objectives: Satisfaction with service delivery among people with HIV (PWH) is an important quality of care indicator and may influence retention in care and health outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate satisfaction and its associated factors among PWH in Taiwan. Methods: A self-administered anonymous questionnaire interview with 40 questions was conducted to assess satisfaction within 6 domains of healthcare service delivery at 3 designated hospitals in Taiwan. Satisfaction with each question was measured on a Likert 5-point scale, while overall satisfaction was rated on a scale from 1 to 10. Multivariate analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with overall satisfaction. Results: From January to June 2024, 863 PWH were included. The mean age was 42.9 years and 97.9% were men. The average overall satisfaction score was 8.94 (standard deviation 1.17). Within HIV care, satisfaction was lowest in the waiting time for HIV consultation. Outside of HIV care, higher dissatisfaction was observed with the attitude of the medical staff during the inquiry or disclosure of HIV status. Multivariate analysis revealed that factors positively associated with overall satisfaction included hospital cleanliness, convenience of the registration/billing system, accessibility of hospital location, privacy protection, trustworthiness of doctor(s), shorter waiting time for consultation, and friendliness of the registration and billing staff. Conclusions: Overall satisfaction among PWH was high at the 3 Taiwanese hospitals. Optimization of hospital infrastructure and workflow, strengthening privacy protection, and education for all hospital staff to promote nonjudgmental attitude toward HIV could further improve patient satisfaction and the quality of care.