A latent variable model of evidence-based quality improvement for substance abuse treatment.
Attempts to improve the quality of substance abuse treatment are hampered by an inability to define specifically the elements of high quality of care and, more important, the lack of a research paradigm within which to study the necessary and sufficient elements of appropriate care. This study proposes that the quality-of-care (QOC) construct for substance abuse treatment might be best considered as a latent construct that does not necessarily exist as a single set of criteria but instead is indicated by a set of empirically derived indicators manifested as a latent factor. Results support defining latent QOC variables across levels of care for alcoholism treatment and empirically defining latent QOC measures from administrative records.
Lennox
R D
RD
Piedmont Research Institute, Inc., 976 Airport Road, Suite 100, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA. rlennox@iedmontresearchusa.com
Mansfield
A J
AJ
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000628:therapy*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D015146:Midwestern United States; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009786:Occupational Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D017749:Total Quality Management