Design and Initial Validation of a Humanistic Care Evaluation Tool

This study aimed at developing and validating a humanistic care tool in Anhui province that could be used across Chinese public hospitals, and to reflect the humanistic care from patients' perspective.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in three public hospitals of Anhui Province, China by adopting simple random sampling, which included 312 outpatients and 323 inpatients.

The dimensions of the tool were set according to "Further Improve Medical Service Action Plan" in China and Patient-Doctor Relationship Questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha values were calculated and used to evaluate the reliability of this tool. Construct validity was tested by the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The associations between characteristics and humanistic care were analyzed by binary logistic regression.

These initial findings showed that about two-thirds of the respondents experienced humanistic care. Both the reliability and construct validity of the humanistic care evaluation tool were suitable Social aspects (location and yearly income), treatment style and having a regular doctor were significantly associated with better humanistic care (all P<0.05).

The humanistic care tool can directly reflect the humanistic care from patients' perspective, and can be popularized and applied across Chinese public hospitals. These findings have important implications to further improve medical service in Chinese public hospitals.