Care Managers as Research Interviewers: A Test of a Strategy for Gathering Consumer Satisfaction Information

Abstract

Care managers from local Area Agencies on Aging, operating Ohio's home-and communitybased waiver program (PASSPORT), were trained as research interviewers to collect consumer satisfaction data from clients receiving in-home services using the Home Care Satisfaction Measure (Geron, Smith, Tennstedt, Jette, Chassler, & Kasten, 2000). The data for homemaker and home health aide scales were comparable to those collected by independent research interviewers for interrater reliability and showed no significant difference between the two groups. The scores on the home-delivered meals index obtained by care managers were slightly but significantly higher than those obtained by the research interviewers. A slight, but significant, difference was found on the home-delivered meals index, although differences between most individual items were not significant. Overall, findings indicate that care managers, when appropriately trained, can collect reliable, scientifically sound data, providing a cost-effective method for collecting satisfaction information from consumers receiving in-home care.

Home Food Environment of Older Adults Transitioning From Hospital to Home

“…The issue of social desirability is particularly relevant to this study as assessors represented community agencies that provided meals to respondents. Past research has suggested that reliable information can be obtained using this data collection strategy if assessors receive appropriate training (41). Since CC assessors did receive intensive training on standardized survey administration, the impact of social desirability may have been minimized.…”

Transforming Data Into Practical Information: Using Consumer Input to Improve Home-Care Services

“…There were no statistically significant differences on the satisfaction scales of homemaker and home health aide services. (For a complete discussion of this study, see Murdoch et al, 2004.) Based on the findings from this study, the Council was almost ready to implement a wide-scale consumer survey that would generate provider-specific data about consumer assessments of quality.…”

“…The initial testing had been done using the HCSM, which has been tested extensively across the United States . The HCSM had been used exclusively with research-trained interviewers; our pretest and in-depth interviews with care managers found that certain items did not work as well when care managers administered the tool (Murdoch et al, 2004). For example, one of the HCSM questions asks about the worker being the consumer's friend.…”

“…Despite a consistent history in long-term care of largely ignoring the consumer, states and local programs now widely use a number of home-care consumer satisfaction instruments (Home Care Satisfaction Measure [HCSM], Participant Experience Survey, Service Adequacy Satisfaction Instrument) to hear consumers' views Medstat, 2003;Murdoch, Kunkel, Applebaum, & Straker, 2004). Assessing consumer satisfaction is a necessary but not sufficient component of program quality.…”