Developing a child-reported measure of inpatient experience of healthcare

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Healthcare Research
• Patient Experience Measurement
• Health Services Evaluation

Background:

• A significant gap exists in validated tools for children and young people to report their inpatient healthcare experiences.
• Existing measures may not adequately capture the nuances of pediatric patient perspectives.
• Empowering young patients to share their experiences is crucial for improving care quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To understand the preferences of children and young people (aged 12-18 years) regarding reporting their inpatient healthcare experiences.
• To adapt and validate a survey instrument for measuring self-reported pediatric inpatient care.
• To ensure the developed tool reflects the lived experiences of young patients.

Main Methods:

• A three-phase study involving focus group discussions, content analysis, and face/content validity assessments.
• Adaptation of the 'Australian Hospital Patient Experience Question Set' based on youth feedback.
• Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess construct validity in a sample of 193 participants.

Main Results:

• Focus groups revealed preferences for wording that emphasized feeling listened to, heard, and safe.
• The adapted survey demonstrated sound construct validity with a one-factor model (RMSEA=0.033, CFI=0.997, TLI=0.996).
• High composite reliability (0.951) indicates the revised question set is a robust measurement tool.

Conclusions:

• Children and young people actively value participating in the design of healthcare experience surveys.
• The revised 'Australian Hospital Patient Experience Question Set' is a reliable and valid tool for measuring self-reported inpatient care for ages 12-17.
• This validated measure facilitates consistent reporting, empowering young patients and informing quality improvement initiatives.