DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOME CARE CLIENT SATISFACTION INSTRUMENT

Client (patient) satisfaction has been studied extensively in the heal th care sector, yet those receiving home health care services have bee n the focus of few studies. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Home Care Client Satisfaction Instrume nt (HCCSI). A total of 400 clients, randomly selected from 20 randomly chosen home care agencies in one state, completed the HCCSI and demog raphic form. Most respondents were older adults with multiple health p roblems and their families or informal support systems. Since data wer e skewed, item analysis was used. The revised instrument (HCCSI-R) is unidimensional and includes 12 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale m easuring specific aspects of care. In addition, there are three global measures of satisfaction rated on a 10-point scale. All items except one had significant item-total correlations greater than.59. The total score correlates with likeliness to recommend the agency to others (. 37, p =.0001), showing some evidence for criterion-related validity.