Developing a child-reported measure of inpatient experience of healthcare.

Abstract

There is a gap between children's right to report on their own experience of inpatient care, and availability of a validated measure to facilitate consistent reporting by children and young people. This study aimed to understand children and young peoples (aged 12-18 years) preferences for reporting their own experience of inpatient health care, and validate a revised question set. A three-phase study assessed: content analysis of focus group discussions; face and content validity of an adapted question set; construct validity using confirmatory factor analysis. Children and young people chose to adapt a survey titled 'Australian Hospital Patient Experience Question Set'. Suggested changes to wording reflected their experiences of feeling listened to, heard, and safe, in contrast to feeling overlooked or overpowered. Assessment of construct validity demonstrated a sound one-factor model (n = 193, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation 0.033, Comparative Fit Index 0.997, Tucker Lewis Index 0.996, composite reliability 0.951). Children and young people valued participating in survey design. The resulting question set is a reliable and valid tool to measure self-reported experience of care for children and young people aged 12 to 17 years on their own or with their parent.