Adaptation of the quality of care from the patient’s perspective (QPP) instrument for persons with dementia

Background: Despite the fact that dementia care is one of the most rapidly growing areas in healthcare, relatively little is known about the experiences of persons with dementia in relation to quality of care. The Quality of care from the Patient’s Perspective (QPP) instrument has previously been adapted for use in different healthcare settings. The aim of this study was to adapt the QPP for use by persons with dementia. Methods: The study was conducted in special care units (SCUs) in Norway. An exploratory factor analysis using principal axis factoring with oblique rotation was performed for psychometric evaluation. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha. Results: The result show that it was possible to assess how persons with dementia living in  SCUs in nursing homes evaluate the care when using an adapted version of the QPP. The QPP questionnaire specifically for dementia care (QPP-DC) consists of 23 items representing seven factors with an eigenvalue ≥ 1.0. The reliability coefficients were acceptable for most factors. Conclusions: QPP-DC provides a meaningful tool for quality improvements of care in special care units by detecting areas of importance for the persons with dementia. In that way the care could be more person centered. Nevertheless, research is needed to further validate and test the QPP-DC questionnaire.