On all these dimensions, patients staying in appealing rooms gave more positive evaluations than those in typical rooms. However, regarding nurse behaviour (answering calls, explaining illness, treatment and home care) no significant differences were found between room types.
Effect of diagnosis on patient perceptions and expectations
Silvestro (2005) studied patient perceptions in one NHS breast cancer screening unit and found that screened and diagnosed patient perceptions differed. Screened patients' ratings were slightly lower than diagnosed patients' evaluations, which reflected the diagnosed patients' heightened sensitivity to service levels. Integrity (transparency and instilling patient confidence) was another factor emerging as important for patients. Communication and competence emerged as important quality factors among screened patients. In the diagnosed patient's case, the four most important service quality factors were: reliability; integrity; functionality and comfort. Also, the diagnosed patients' perceptions were generally slightly lower than screened patients'. In general, screened patients' perceptions were positive. However, diagnosed patients' perceptions (with the exception of courtesy) were poor leading to a negative gap for every factor. Patients were most dissatisfied with:
• care;
• comfort;
• responsiveness; and
• privacy (undressing during the screening process and that conversation with staff were overheard).
Privacy's importance has been recognized in previous studies (Silvestro, 2005).
Effect of socio‐demographic characteristics on patient perceptions
Socio‐demographic variables showing positive association with patient satisfaction include:
• age;
• education;
• health status;
• race;
• marital status; and
• social class.
However, Tucker (2002) states that unclear, contradictory and inconclusive relationships exist between:
• satisfaction and gender;
• race;
• marital status; and
• social class.