Since 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) has focoused strongly and seriously on evaluation and measurment of treatment’s satisfaction and suggested the conduction of improvement plan across health care delivery (Li et al, 2017). During the last two decades the treatment Satisfaction has been highlighted not only as an important parameter in measuring the quality but also a reasonable result of our expectations and experiences of health services (Tran, Nguyen, Phan&Latkin, 2015). One of the questionnaires related to the topic of treatment satisfaction with the particular aim of development and evaluation of treatment satisfaction among the patiens already undergoing treatment is the TSQM (Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication). TSQM is a valid scale of patients' satisfaction of pharmacological treatment (Atkinson et al, 2004 ).
It was shown that patient’s satisfaction affects their health and treatment-related behaviors, which in turn, affects the success of treatment results (Taylor, 2000). Satisfaction with the received services, predicts success of treatment, medical compliance, follow-ups and Proper use of services among patients. In other words, Patient’s satisfaction from their prescribed medicine predicts continuity of drug treatment, proper use of medication and medicine adherence. Among patients with chronic disease, adverse effects of medications such as ongoing side effects, and the inconvenience of long-term use could cause a patient cease to use their medicine without getting medical advice from their physician. Since, more emphasis is on dissatisfaction with side effects and discomfort, poor adherence may jeopardize the effectiveness of a drug, thus, increases the rate of disease progression (Atkinson et al, 2004 & Dunbar-Jacob et al, 2000).
Substance use disorder is currently a public health issue with high rate of morbidity and mortality. Maintenance therapy with methadone or buprenorphine is an effective treatment for opioid dependence in the community (Peles, Schreiber S& Adelson, 2006). Due to the increasing prevalence of substance abuse disorder in our country (Iran) and its destructive effects on the quality of life of patients, attention to quality of life as an important factor in evaluating treatment outcomes and the effectiveness of treatment in physical and mental illnesses has been improved during the last 3 decades (Brown, Zueldorff, 2007). Since the satisfaction of patients who use Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) services plays an important role in their therapeutic success and harmony, hence realization of dosage adequacy, treatment satisfaction, side effects and ease of use seems to be necessary (Trujols et al, 2012a). Therefore, it seems important to evaluate the satisfaction of opioid agonists usage as a medicine with psychometric tools.
Many Studies have been conducted worldwide on the validity and reliability of the TSQM questionnaire (Peles et al, 2006, Liberato, Rodrigues, São-João, Alexandre,& Gallani, 2016, Pérez de Los Cobos et al, 2018, Regnault, Balp, Kulich, Viala-Danten, 2012, 12- Watanabe-Fujinuma et al, 2019). A study conducted in the United States on 8 different groups of patients showed that this questionnaire can be a good predictor of drug treatment in different patients that the reliability coefficient was acceptable with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the questionnaire (Peles et al, 2006). In 2016, the validity and reliability of the treatment satisfaction questionnaire in cardiovascular patients were assessed in Brazil and showed evidence of the acceptability and practicality of TSQM (Liberato et al, 2016). A 2018 study evaluated satisfaction with buprenorphine-naloxone treatment in heroin addicts. The result of this study that conducted with the help of TSQM questionnaire and evaluated general satisfaction, drug treatment, mental status, physical condition, personal performance, acceptance and anti-addictive effects of secondary substances showed acceptable internal consistency and correlation coefficients among all studied factors. The results supported the validity and reliability of the questionnaire (Pérez de Los Cobos et al, 2018).
Considering both the role of buprenorphine and methadone maintenance therapy as an effective treatment method in controlling opioid dependence and the importance of treatment satisfaction in the success and therapeutic alliance, there is a serious requirement to measure treatment satisfaction for periodic care, using a valid and multi-dimensional tool. According to our knowledge, there has not been a previous study conducted in Iran using TSQM. The present study was conducted to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the treatment satisfaction questionnaire in patients referred to the methadone clinic of Shahid Beheshti Hospital in 2020.