Abstract:Social surveys are an important tool in health services research. They have been used in a high proportion of pharmacy practice research studies and in a wide range of settings. Extensive hand searches of published studies has enabled a review of the issues and problems that survey methods present when applied in pharmacy practice and an exploration of how they have been addressed by researchers. It is hoped that the review will enable pharmacy practice researchers to benefit from the experience of their colle… Show more
“…No relevant published questionnaire was available. The content of the questionnaire was established using a review of the literature in both patient satisfaction surveys (Easi‐Quest Patient and Staff Surveys, Reference Point Ltd), occupational therapy outcome measures (Oppenheim 1992; Stone 1993; Smith 1997a; Smith 1997b; Cooper 1998; Norris 1999; Eva 2001) and questionnaire design (Ballinger & Davey 1998).…”
In the past 20 years there has been considerable growth in the provision of palliative care services. The shift in emphasis from hospice and hospital care to the development of community services has been significant. This enables people to be cared for at home and is in keeping with Government agenda. While this may be beneficial for the patient and fit in with the wishes of the family, it is likely to put heavy demands on the coping resources of individual carers. The views of service users are of paramount importance when discussing service evaluation and patient, family and carer empowerment. This research presents the findings of an evaluation of the domiciliary occupational therapy service provided for patients in the palliative stage of cancer care in North and West Belfast from the perspective of the patients and carers. For the purpose of this study, the palliative stage of cancer care is defined as the point from which the patient is no longer responsive to curative treatment, until death. A sample of 30 patients and their primary informal carers were selected using purposive sampling. A structured interview was carried out with both the patients and their carers to obtain views. Results suggest that although both patients and their carers value the service provided and report high levels of satisfaction, there are gaps identified in service provision and a lack of clear information among patients and their carers about the role of the occupational therapist and the range of services they can provide. There is a need to build upon the good work being done by domiciliary occupational therapists in the area of palliative cancer care and increase education and resources to ensure that a patient-centred, holistic, approach to care is used, addressing both the needs of the patient and their carers.
“…No relevant published questionnaire was available. The content of the questionnaire was established using a review of the literature in both patient satisfaction surveys (Easi‐Quest Patient and Staff Surveys, Reference Point Ltd), occupational therapy outcome measures (Oppenheim 1992; Stone 1993; Smith 1997a; Smith 1997b; Cooper 1998; Norris 1999; Eva 2001) and questionnaire design (Ballinger & Davey 1998).…”
In the past 20 years there has been considerable growth in the provision of palliative care services. The shift in emphasis from hospice and hospital care to the development of community services has been significant. This enables people to be cared for at home and is in keeping with Government agenda. While this may be beneficial for the patient and fit in with the wishes of the family, it is likely to put heavy demands on the coping resources of individual carers. The views of service users are of paramount importance when discussing service evaluation and patient, family and carer empowerment. This research presents the findings of an evaluation of the domiciliary occupational therapy service provided for patients in the palliative stage of cancer care in North and West Belfast from the perspective of the patients and carers. For the purpose of this study, the palliative stage of cancer care is defined as the point from which the patient is no longer responsive to curative treatment, until death. A sample of 30 patients and their primary informal carers were selected using purposive sampling. A structured interview was carried out with both the patients and their carers to obtain views. Results suggest that although both patients and their carers value the service provided and report high levels of satisfaction, there are gaps identified in service provision and a lack of clear information among patients and their carers about the role of the occupational therapist and the range of services they can provide. There is a need to build upon the good work being done by domiciliary occupational therapists in the area of palliative cancer care and increase education and resources to ensure that a patient-centred, holistic, approach to care is used, addressing both the needs of the patient and their carers.
“…Additionally, its association with item 6 (control over life) seemed to be less closely related because such question about whether 'life is a burden or a gift' is by nature more distant than question about whether 'one has control over his/her life'. As suggested by Smith [46], poor reliability may result from ambiguity in question wording and inconsistency in result interpretation. Nonetheless, the decision to continue its inclusion in further analyses was also based on its strong test-retest reliability outcomes since absolute reliance on the Cronbach's a value alone would not have represented a comprehensive reliability test.…”
In terminally-ill patients, effective measurement of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) needs to be done while imposing minimal burden. In an attempt to ensure that routine HRQoL assessment is simple but capable of eliciting adequate information, the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire-Cardiff Short Form (MQOL-CSF: 8 items) was developed from its original version, the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire (MQOL: 17 items). Psychometric properties of the MQOL-CSF were then tested in palliative care patients consisting of 55 out-patients, 48 hospice patients and 86 in-patients: The MQOL-CSF had little respondent burden (mean completion time = 3.3 min) and was evaluated as 'very clear' or 'clear' (98.2%), comprehensive (74.5%) and acceptable (96.4%). The internal consistency reliability was moderate to high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.462-0.858) and test-retest reliability (Spearman's r(s)) ranged from 0.512-0.861. Correlation was moderate to strong (0.478-0.725) between items in the short form and their analogous domains in the MQOL. Most MQOL-CSF items showed strong associations with their own domain (r(s) > or = 0.40). Scores from MQOL-CSF significantly differentiated between patients with differing haemoglobin levels (p < 0.05). Construct validity was overall supported by principal component analysis. It is concluded that the MQOL-CSF is a feasible tool with favourable psychometric properties for routine HRQoL assessment in the palliative care population.
“…Two open-ended questions were also included, asking respondents to share their views of communication across the healthcare interface and the development of a community pharmacy-IC service. The questionnaire was piloted with six pharmacists, to assess face and content validity [10]. Fig.…”
Background Despite the importance placed on the concept of the multidisciplinary team in relation to intermediate care (IC), little is known about community pharmacists’ (CPs) involvement. Objective To determine CPs’ awareness of and involvement with IC services, perceptions of the transfer of patients’ medication information between healthcare settings and views of the development of a CP–IC service. Setting Community pharmacies in Northern Ireland. Methods A postal questionnaire, informed by previous qualitative work was developed and piloted. Main outcome measure CPs’ awareness of and involvement with IC. Results The response rate was 35.3 % (190/539). Under half (47.4 %) of CPs ‘agreed/strongly agreed’ that they understood the term ‘intermediate care’. Three quarters of respondents were either not involved or unsure if they were involved with providing services to IC. A small minority (1.2 %) of CPs reported that they received communication regarding medication changes made in hospital or IC settings ‘all of the time’. Only 9.5 and 0.5 % of respondents ‘strongly agreed’ that communication from hospital and IC, respectively, was sufficiently detailed. In total, 155 (81.6 %) CPs indicated that they would like to have greater involvement with IC services. ‘Current workload’ was ranked as the most important barrier to service development. Conclusion It was revealed that CPs had little awareness of, or involvement with, IC. Communication of information relating to patients’ medicines between settings was perceived as insufficient, especially between IC and community pharmacy settings. CPs demonstrated willingness to be involved with IC and services aimed at bridging the communication gap between healthcare settings.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11096-016-0377-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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