title: Patient and organizational factors related to education and support use by Veterans with Parkinson's disease.
abstract: Patient education and support services are recognized in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as important to the patient-centered treatment of Parkinson's disease. Indeed, educating patients is one of the missions of the VA's six specialty Parkinson's Disease Research, Education and Clinical Centers (PADRECCs). We compared VA education/support services utilization by whether or not a patient's VA Medical Center (VAMC) contained a PADRECC. Our sample included Parkinson's disease patients from VAMCs with (n = 882) and without (n = 1,448) PADRECCs. Patients completed surveys that asked about demographic/individual characteristics, health status/function, and education/support utilization. Results showed that 15.8% (n = 354) of all patients utilized education/support services. Patients at PADRECC VAMCs were generally healthier and more educated than other VAMC patients. After statistically controlling for these differences, however, being a patient at a PADRECC VAMC site and using only VA providers (as compared to a combination of VA and non-VA providers) were significant predictors of education/support utilization. Further, proportionally more PADRECC VAMC site patients reported higher satisfaction and receiving a broad range of information from different modalities as compared to other VAMC patients. These findings suggest that PADRECC VAMCs are providing educational/support activities consistent with these specialty centers' goals.
authors.affiliation: Center for Organization, Leadership and Management Research, Department of Veterans Affairs, 150 South Huntington Avenue (152M), Boston, MA 02130, USA. terri.pogoda@va.gov
authors.forename: Terri K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Pogoda
authors.forename: Irene E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Cramer
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meterko
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hendricks
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Holloway
authors.forename: Martin P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Charns
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D006268:Health Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D058016:Health Facility Administration; D006304:Health Status; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014728:Veterans; D055815:Young Adult