Nienke D Zinger, Dionne S Kringos, Robert A Verheij, Isabelle Bos, Vina N Slev
{"title":"Measuring healthcare quality in police custody: the development of quality indicators through expert consultations in the Netherlands.","authors":"Nienke D Zinger, Dionne S Kringos, Robert A Verheij, Isabelle Bos, Vina N Slev","doi":"10.1186/s40352-026-00415-2","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Improving the quality of care for people detained in police custody requires careful measurement and monitoring. However, a standardized and endorsed set of quality indicators for healthcare in police custody settings is lacking. This study aimed to develop a core set of quality indicators to monitor and evaluate police custody healthcare in the Netherlands.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A four-phase modified Delphi process was conducted between February 2024 and September 2025: (1) identification of candidate quality indicators ethrough expert brainstorming; (2) rating of indicators on relevance and measurability in a self-administered questionnaire; (3) an in-person group consultation meeting to refine and prioritize the indicators; and (4) content validation of the core set by an advisory committee. A multidisciplinary pool of professionals from healthcare, police, justice, and adjacent sectors participated throughout.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Brainstorming sessions with 14 experts yielded 185 candidate indicators, which were rated by 19 experts in the questionnaire. The group consultation meeting with 15 participants refined the list, and feedback from 8 advisory committee members informed the final selection. The resulting core set comprised 15 structure, 9-12 process (7 fixed and 2-5 variable), and 17 outcome indicators, covering all key domains of police custody healthcare quality.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The first evidence-based set of indicators provides a foundation for the systematic assessment and continuous learning in police custody healthcare. Routine healthcare data may serve as a valuable measurement source, though their usefulness depends on data quality, accessibility, and system readiness.</p>","PeriodicalId":37843,"journal":{"name":"Health and Justice","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.8000,"publicationDate":"2026-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13445773/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Health and Justice","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40352-026-00415-2","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Improving the quality of care for people detained in police custody requires careful measurement and monitoring. However, a standardized and endorsed set of quality indicators for healthcare in police custody settings is lacking. This study aimed to develop a core set of quality indicators to monitor and evaluate police custody healthcare in the Netherlands.
Methods: A four-phase modified Delphi process was conducted between February 2024 and September 2025: (1) identification of candidate quality indicators ethrough expert brainstorming; (2) rating of indicators on relevance and measurability in a self-administered questionnaire; (3) an in-person group consultation meeting to refine and prioritize the indicators; and (4) content validation of the core set by an advisory committee. A multidisciplinary pool of professionals from healthcare, police, justice, and adjacent sectors participated throughout.
Results: Brainstorming sessions with 14 experts yielded 185 candidate indicators, which were rated by 19 experts in the questionnaire. The group consultation meeting with 15 participants refined the list, and feedback from 8 advisory committee members informed the final selection. The resulting core set comprised 15 structure, 9-12 process (7 fixed and 2-5 variable), and 17 outcome indicators, covering all key domains of police custody healthcare quality.
Conclusions: The first evidence-based set of indicators provides a foundation for the systematic assessment and continuous learning in police custody healthcare. Routine healthcare data may serve as a valuable measurement source, though their usefulness depends on data quality, accessibility, and system readiness.
期刊介绍：
Health & Justice is open to submissions from public health, criminology and criminal justice, medical science, psychology and clinical sciences, sociology, neuroscience, biology, anthropology and the social sciences, and covers a broad array of research types. It publishes original research, research notes (promising issues that are smaller in scope), commentaries, and translational notes (possible ways of introducing innovations in the justice system). Health & Justice aims to: Present original experimental research on the area of health and well-being of people involved in the adult or juvenile justice system, including people who work in the system; Present meta-analysis or systematic reviews in the area of health and justice for those involved in the justice system; Provide an arena to present new and upcoming scientific issues; Present translational science—the movement of scientific findings into practice including programs, procedures, or strategies; Present implementation science findings to advance the uptake and use of evidence-based practices; and, Present protocols and clinical practice guidelines. As an open access journal, Health & Justice aims for a broad reach, including researchers across many disciplines as well as justice practitioners (e.g. judges, prosecutors, defenders, probation officers, treatment providers, mental health and medical personnel working with justice-involved individuals, etc.). The sections of the journal devoted to translational and implementation sciences are primarily geared to practitioners and justice actors with special attention to the techniques used.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
