Authors:
Clark K, Reibel T
Authors notes:
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, 2013.
Keywords:
Maternity services, evaluation instrument, Western Australia, public hospitals, maternity
Abstract:
The following sections of this report result from a project undertaken to develop a theoretically-framed survey tool for use in monitoring and evaluating women's satisfaction with Western Australia's public maternity services.
The goal of the project was to derive a valid and reliable service evaluation instrument to assist Western Australian maternity health care providers in ascertaining components of current models of care that were valued by women and those that might require change.
In order to avoid potential pitfalls in the developmental process, the project began with a review of literature.
This review, which forms the first section of this report, was used to assist the project Reference Group with its deliberations and decisions about subsequent stages of the project.
The second section of the report pertains to qualitative research with Western Australian women undertaken to help inform the development of a preliminary trial instrument.
Section three of the report describes the results of a final stage of instrument development research, including the process followed to refine measures and test their reliability and validity. Taken together, the three sections of the report highlight the ways in which weaknesses of past approaches to developing patient satisfaction scales were addressed in the project and describe the methods used to derive a set of 9 brief, psychometrically sound scales addressing different aspects of women's maternity care experience.