AFTER: Refining the iWantGreatCare questionnaire.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
AFTER: iwAntgreatcare: service user Feedback as a means of refining The iwantgrEatcare questionnaiRe.
IRAS ID
123308
Contact name
Annmarie Nelson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University
Research summary
The All Wales Palliative Care Implementation Board commissioned an independent organisation (iWantGreatCare), to gather service experience ratings and reviews of palliative care. This aimed to help understand patients’ and families’ experience of care and to improve the quality of the service. To date, more than 2000 questionnaire responses have been collated from palliative care settings throughout Wales. The results from this questionnaire and in particular the questions relating to patient experience, showed that patients or their families were satisfied overall with the care they received. However, for the purpose of highlighting areas of the service that need improvement, the results from these questions reveal little useful information. In order to full reflect patients’ and familites’ experiences of care, a subsequent qualitative analysis of the free-text comments of 596 patients and carers has drawn out areas of concern and scope for improvement not shown in the scored results (Sampson et al 2011).
Following this qualitative analysis, the research team established that the findings could be used to refine the iWantGreatCare questionnaire, to accommodate service users’ priorities and concerns. An expert consensus meeting was therefore held with healthcare professionals from the statutory and third sector, researchers and a lay representative to discuss and refine the questionnaire in light of the qualitative analysis. The revised questionnaire will now be tested through cognitive interviews with patients and carers/relatives, where the aim is to examine whether the questionnaire is both understandable and easy to use.
These two stages will generate a questionnaire that is sensitive to patients’ and carers’ needs and will replace the tool currently used in practices.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
13/NS/0096
Date of REC Opinion
24 Jul 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion