Family-centred services in The Netherlands: validating a self-report measure for paediatric service providers.

OBJECTIVE

To validate the Dutch translation of the Canadian Measure of Processes of Care for Service Providers questionnaire (MPOC-SP) for use in paediatric rehabilitation settings in the Netherlands.

DESIGN

The construct validity, content validity, face validity, and reliability of the Dutch MPOC-SP were determined.

SUBJECTS

The 163 service providers that participated in the validation study represented seven children's rehabilitation centres and affiliated schools in the Netherlands (overall response rate 55.6%). In this sample 19 disciplines were represented.

MAIN MEASURES

The MPOC-SP consists of 27 items (assessing four domains) and was designed to examine how service providers think about the quality of care they provide and to assess the extent to which these services are family centred. Fifty-three service providers filled out an additional face validity questionnaire.

RESULTS

All items correlated best and significantly with their own scale score (r(s) 0.48-0.82, P<0.001). The Pearson's correlation coefficients were all significant and confirmed that the four scales measure different aspects of a same construct, namely family-centred service. The content validity and the face validity of the Dutch MPOC-SP were good, indicating the questionnaire measures relevant aspects of family-centred service delivery in paediatric rehabilitation settings in the Netherlands. The test-retest analyses (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) 0.83-0.89) and the internal consistency analyses (alpha 0.65-0.84) showed that the Dutch MPOC-SP is a reliable tool.

CONCLUSIONS

The Dutch MPOC-SP is a reliable and valid instrument to measure the family-centredness of service delivery.