Assessing inpatients’ satisfaction with hospital care: should we prefer evaluation or satisfaction ratings?

Inpatients’ satisfaction with hospital care is often assessed by questionnaire. From a psychometrical standpoint, this method has drawbacks, however. We further investigated which item response format would maximise desirable outcomes regarding characteristics of the sample obtained (response rate a...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Patient education and counseling Vol. 55; no. 1; pp. 142 - 146
Main Authors:	Hendriks, A.A.Jolijn, Vrielink, Marjon R., van Es, Saskia Q., De Haes, Hanneke J.C.J.M., Smets, Ellen M.A.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01-10-2004
Subjects:	Academic Medical Centers Analysis of Variance Assessment Chi-Square Distribution Choice Behavior Factor Analysis, Statistical Female Health Services Research Humans Inpatients Inpatients - psychology Length of Stay - statistics & numerical data Male Middle Aged Netherlands Nursing Outcome Assessment (Health Care) Patient Satisfaction Psychometrics Quality of Health Care Questionnaire Sample Size Satisfaction Surveys and Questionnaires - standards Netherlands Inpatients Questionnaire Satisfaction Assessment
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Inpatients’ satisfaction with hospital care is often assessed by questionnaire. From a psychometrical standpoint, this method has drawbacks, however. We further investigated which item response format would maximise desirable outcomes regarding characteristics of the sample obtained (response rate and representativeness) and psychometric properties of the instrument (e.g. missing items responses, variance, validity) as an initial study into this question was indecisive. Subjects were 1184 discharged inpatients, of which 728 patients (62%) responded. They filled out a 55-item satisfaction questionnaire, addressing 12 aspects of care, using either a 10-point Evaluation scale ranging from ‘very poor’ to ‘excellent’ (E10) or a 5-point Satisfaction scale ranging from ‘dissatisfied’ to ‘very satisfied’ (S5). Both E10 and S5 showed good psychometric properties, but S5 yielded a better score distribution. Other results also favoured S5, but differences were small. In conclusion, different response formats do not yield widely different results. Thus, in choosing between them, convenience could be a decisive factor.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0738-3991 1873-5134
DOI:	10.1016/j.pec.2003.11.006