American University of Armenia, Yerevan, The 6th International Medical Congress for Students and Young Doctors, May 12-14, 2016Introduction: Mental health is just as important as physical health to the overall well-being of
individuals, societies and countries. It is accountable for 12% of the global burden of disease whereas
global budgets of the majority of the countries allocate less than 1% of their total health expenditure to
mental health care. Morbidity rates for psychiatric diseases in Republic of Armenia have increased from
228 per 100.000 general population in 2006 to 243.6 in 2009. Whereas the prevalence of mental and
behavior disorders among the population of Republic of Moldova has grown from 2,599 per 100 000
people to 2,649 in 2009. This qualitative research study examines and compares patient satisfaction with
mental health care services in Armenia and Moldova.
Methods: An exploratory qualitative study on patient satisfaction with mental health care
services was conducted in Yerevan and Chisinau. The study collected data via in-depth interviews. The
study population included caregivers of 18 to 65 years old mentally ill patients. A semi-structured in
depth
interview guide was developed in English, and translated into Armenian and Romanian. A trained
interviewer for Armenia conducted 21 in-depth interviews and one focus group, while for Moldova the
student investigator conducted 24 in-depth interviews. Detailed notes were taken during the interview
and later transcribed in English. The transcripts were coded by words, phrases and ideas, and analyzed
by hand. Several ethics committees approved the study.Results and discussion: Four domains expressing the main concerns that the participants had,
that influenced their patients’/relatives’ satisfaction and revealing information that would be more
helpful to improve the quality of care in mental health were: financial access, commodities in hospital,
medical staff qualifications and attitudes, and overall satisfaction of patient and relative. Part of the
similarities between Armenia and Moldova is the fact that participants and patients were overall satisfied
with the services, despite the shortage of drugs at times, additional expenses it caused and uncomfortable
conditions within the hospital
