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A postal survey of the quality of long‐term institutional care
Author(s) -
Challiner Yvonne,
Watson Rachel,
Julious Steven,
Philp Ian
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.930090805
Subject(s) - audit , quality (philosophy) , stratified sampling , medicine , sample (material) , family medicine , index (typography) , health care , inter rater reliability , environmental health , gerontology , psychology , business , accounting , rating scale , developmental psychology , philosophy , chemistry , epistemology , pathology , chromatography , world wide web , computer science , economics , economic growth
There is increasing interest in measuring and regulating the quality of long‐term institutional care for elderly people during an era of change in the funding and provision of such care. We report the development and use of a postal questionnaire intended as a cheap, reliable and valid method for quality evaluation. The 18‐item questionnaire was derived from a set of standards for quality of long‐term care originally selected by patients and staff as appropriate for this purpose. The questionnaire was sent to a random sample of private residential homes and to all other voluntary, local authority and health service establishments providing long‐term care in one health district. There was a 94% response rate. Follow‐up in‐depth studies in a stratified random sample of establishments were undertaken. Reliability of the questionnaire was acceptable (intrarater, r= 0.88; interrater, r=0.73). There were significant differences in quality scores between sectors (p< 0.001) and a positive correlation between quality score and physical independence of residents, as measured by the Barthel Index (r= 0.48). The postal questionnaire, able to detect differences within and between the different sectors of care provision, has potential for setting national and local sectoral norms for quality of care. It could be used as a screening tool for individual establishments and inspectorate bodies prior to more detailed internal or external audit.