title: [Perception of the Central Hospital by the urban population of Yaoundé: quantitative and qualitative methods].
abstract: Two studies, using different methods, were used to assess the opinions of the local population on Yaounde Central Hospital (YCH), the changes made as part of a restructuring program and use of health care facilities. The study population comprised YCH patients and the urban population of Yaounde as a whole. One study used personal interviews, according to standard epidemiological survey methods (1,267 inhabitants). The other used focus group discussions involving 8 to 12 people each (10 groups). There was no significant difference in the results recorded by these two methods. Focus group discussions are cheaper and easier to implement and are thus valuable for use alone or prior to more extensive studies using questionnaires. Classic epidemiological survey methods produce results which are reproducible and suitable for statistical analysis, and will make it possible to follow the progress of the new working policies of the YCH.
authors.affiliation: Service des urgences, Hôpital central, Yaoundé, Cameroun.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Blatt
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chambon
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lemardeley
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Touko
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kamta
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chandenier
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D002163:Cameroon; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D016527:Drug Costs; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D017144:Focus Groups; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006754:Hospital Restructuring; D006786:Hospitals, Urban / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016134:Organizational Policy; D011639:Public Opinion; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population