Improving Measurement of Health Care Transitions through Key Stakeholders' Eyes [Methods Study], Massachusetts, 2015-2019 (ICPSR 39512)
Version Date: Oct 14, 2025 View help for published
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Catarina I. Kiefe, University of Massachusetts Medical School
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39512.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
During care transitions, patients move from one care setting to another, such as from the hospital to home. If not done well, these care transitions can result in health problems for patients and the need for them to return to the hospital.
Healthcare organizations can use patient surveys to measure the success of care transitions. One survey about the quality of care transitions already exists. The survey was created with input from patients but with no input from caregivers and healthcare providers. In addition, the survey doesn't ask about topics that patients may find important, such as caregiver involvement and the time after care transitions.
In this study, the research team created and tested a new survey. To create the survey, the team asked for input from patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers. The team tested whether the survey was
- Valid, or able to correctly capture what it intends to measure
- Reliable, or able to get consistent answers
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Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
To develop and validate a new measure of care transition quality and compare it to the existing Care Transitions Measure (CTM-15). The specific aims were as follows: Aim 1: Use qualitative methods to explore conceptual definitions of care transitions from stakeholders' perspectives. Aim 2: Conduct psychometric evaluation of care transition measures derived from aim 1 compared with the CTM. Aim 3: Explore perceptions of the relationship between transitional care quality and subsequent rehospitalization.
Study Design View help for Study Design
This study created a new measure of care transition quality that addresses gaps in content validity in the CTM-15, such as involvement of caregivers and post-discharge needs, by incorporating views from patients, caregivers, and clinicians in developing the new measure. The research team developed new questions to address methodological gaps related to acquiescence bias in response format. Acquiescence bias is the tendency of a respondent to agree with a statement when in doubt.
The research team conducted 48 interviews with patients, caregivers, and clinicians to identify concepts related to patient experiences with care transitions from hospital to home. After using these concepts to create questions, the team interviewed 11 patients to see how patients understood and responded to the questions. The team eliminated some questions that patients said were redundant and modified language of other questions to ease comprehension.
The research team then administered the new measure of care transition quality to patients one month after their discharge from the hospital. The team conducted factor analysis on survey responses to identify key aspects of care transition quality and applied item response theory to identify the best questions to measure each aspect. The team also evaluated the validity and reliability of the measure.
Universe View help for Universe
Patients discharged from University of Massachusetts Medical School
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