Older adults' satisfaction with integrated capitated health and long-term care

The objective of this study is to develop an instrument to evaluate satisfaction with care for older adults in capitated environments. Although satisfaction with care is now widely accepted as an important outcome measure, there are relatively few satisfaction measures developed or validated on older persons. Because many older persons are unable to respond to surveys, separate instruments were developed for individuals and for their families.

There were 402 face-to-face interviews conducted at 11 PACE sites with PACE participants or their family members and a non-PACE group. Scales were constructed by use of factor analysis and were evaluated for internal-consistency reliability, validity, and ability to discriminate.

For the participant survey, three factors were identified, but only two exhibited adequate internal consistency (Perceived Access and Perceived Interpersonal Quality). For the family survey, all four identified factors had adequate internal consistency (Perceived Access, Family Pressure, Ease of Access, and Family Involvement). The participant survey discriminated between the PACE sites and the non-PACE sites, but the family-member survey did not.

The PACE Satisfaction Survey appears to have adequate reliability and validity for measuring the satisfaction of older persons and their family members with capitated care. The domains of satisfaction differ between individuals and family members.