Introduction Parents' satisfaction with pediatric care is often measured for single encounters, although families managing chronic conditions accumulate experiences across multiple contacts and settings. We aimed to identify predictors of parents' cumulative satisfaction with prior pediatric care, focusing on health literacy, e–health literacy, Internet and social media use, and perceived stress, while accounting for sociodemographic and illness-related factors. Methods A cross-sectional paper-and-pencil survey was administered to parents of children treated for chronic gastrointestinal diseases in five university gastroenterology centers in Poland. Parental satisfaction was measured with a study-specific, ad hoc 10-item Parental Cumulative Satisfaction with Pediatric Care Scale. Predictors were examined using hierarchical linear regression with four blocks: sociodemographic variables, illness and service-use indicators, perceived stress, and health literacy, e-health literacy, and media-use indicators. Results Participants were predominantly mothers (82.4%), mean age was 42.0 years (SD = 5.8), and 66.0% cared for a child with inflammatory bowel disease. Mean satisfaction was high (4.9, SD = 0.81). In regression, explained variance increased from R 2 = 0.094 (sociodemographic block) to R 2 = 0.106 (adding illness/service-use), R 2 = 0.154 (adding stress), and R 2 = 0.202 in the full model. In the full model, higher stress predicted lower satisfaction (B = −0.03; 95%CI−0.04 to−0.02), and inadequate HL (vs sufficient) was associated with lower satisfaction (B = −0.64; 95%CI−0.98 to−0.31). Additional independent correlates included low income ≤ 1,500 PLN (B = −0.37; 95%CI−0.61 to−0.12), bachelor's education (B = 0.40; 95%CI 0.09–0.71), being married/partnered (B = −0.34; 95%CI−0.59-−0.10), and residence in a city 500,000 (B = −0.25; 95%CI−0.47-−0.04). e-Health literacy and media-use indicators were not independently associated. Conclusions Cumulative parental satisfaction was significantly associated with the level of perceived stress and health literacy, whereas illness and service-use markers and broad indicators of digital engagement showed limited incremental value after adjustment.
Pacut et al. (Wed,) studied this question.