Development and testing of a questionnaire to measure older people's experience of the Transition Care Program in Australia.

Abstract

Transition Care (TC) is a new program for older adults in Australia. At present, program quality is assessed using provider reports of compliance with key requirements established by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. As part of the National Evaluation of the Transition Care Program, the authors developed a questionnaire to measure recipient experience of TC. Validity and reliability were assessed via interviews with 582 recipients or proxies 3 months after discharge from TC. Concordance between test–retest observations was high. Principal component analysis suggested three sub-scales were important: restoration, continuity of care and patient involvement. Recipients of TC in a residential care setting had lower mean scores on the restoration sub-scale compared to those who received services in the community. This study found that a standardised measure of recipient experience could inform quality improvement in TC and is feasible to administer via questionnaire.