Development and testing of a staff questionnaire for evaluating the quality of services at nursing homes in Japan.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to develop a self-assessment tool for evaluating the quality of services provided in nursing homes in Japan and to test the validity of the imputation method for the analysis of missing data.


METHODS
A mailed survey based on a self-administered questionnaire.


METHODS
Gifu Prefecture in central Japan.


METHODS
We recruited 124 health care workers from 15 nursing homes located in the Gifu Prefecture.


METHODS
Demographic data, self-assessment of the quality of services provided in nursing homes, Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, General Health Questionnaire, self-rated score of the nursing facility, and job satisfaction.


RESULTS
Factor analysis with maximum-likelihood estimation extracted a factor in both the complete observed data and the data obtained by imputing values using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. The factor score was significantly associated with burnout, self-rated score of the nursing facility, and job satisfaction.


CONCLUSIONS
The simple self-assessment tool that was developed in this study for evaluating the quality of services provided in nursing homes has high internal reliability and criterion-related validity. The imputation method using the EM algorithm might be useful for the analysis of missing data with regard to long-term care and management.
Abe
Koji
K
Department of Gerontological Policy, National Institute of Longevity Sciences, NCGG, Aichi, Japan. kojiabe@nils.go.jp
Ohashi
Akira
A
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009735:Nursing Homes; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*