Quality of care from the perspective of elderly people: the QUOTE-Elderly instrument

Background: patient views on the quality of care are usually assessed by means of patient satisfaction questionnaires. Aim: to develop an instrument that would: (i) produce data related to the expectations and experiences of noninstitutionalized elderly people, (ii) contain items that had been formulated in collaboration with elderly people, (iii) measure quality from the perspective of the users of health care services and (iv) produce data on generic quality aspects and quality aspects specifically related to the needs of elderly people. Methods: we developed the instrument for measuring quality of care from the perspective of non-institutionalized elderly people (QUOTE-Elderly) by using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. We obtained empirical data on the opinions and experiences of 338 elderly people. We evaluated the taxonomy of the instrument, internal consistency of (sub)scales and the feasibility of the instrument using explorative and confirmative factor analyses and reliability analysis. Results: using scale optimization, we produced a self-administered questionnaire on quality of health care from the perspective of elderly people. This contains scientific characteristics and provides specific information for practical quality-assurance policies.