title: Using standardized patients to evaluate hospital-based intervention outcomes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The standardized patient approach has proved to be an effective training tool for medical educators. This article explains the process of employing standardized patients in an HIV stigma reduction intervention in healthcare settings in China.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted in 40 hospitals in two provinces of China. One year after the stigma reduction intervention, standardized patients made unannounced visits to participating hospitals, randomly approached service providers on duty and presented symptoms related to HIV and disclosed HIV-positive test results. After each visit, the standardized patients evaluated their providers' attitudes and behaviours using a structured checklist. Standardized patients also took open-ended observation notes about their experience and the evaluation process.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven standardized patients conducted a total of 217 assessments (108 from 20 hospitals in the intervention condition; 109 from 20 hospitals in the control condition). Based on a comparative analysis, the intervention hospitals received a better rating than the control hospitals in terms of general impression and universal precaution compliance as well as a lower score on stigmatizing attitudes and behaviours toward the standardized patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Standardized patients are a useful supplement to traditional self-report assessments, particularly for measuring intervention outcomes that are sensitive or prone to social desirability.
authors.affiliation: Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Center for Community Health, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA and Fujian Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Fuzhou, China lililili@ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Center for Community Health, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA and Fujian Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Fuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Chunqing
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Center for Community Health, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA and Fujian Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Fuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Jihui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guan
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002681:China; D005239:Fear; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006739:Hospital Administration; D006748:Hospital Departments / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016544:Patient Simulation; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D057545:Social Stigma
keywords: China; HIV/AIDS; Standardized patients; intervention outcome; stigma