One-year stability of the Measure of Processes of Care.

BACKGROUND

The Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC) is a 56-item self-administered measure designed to examine what parents of a child with a chronic health problem think of the services they and their child receive, and to measure the extent to which these services are family-centred. Reliability and validity of the MPOC were established in prior studies. The aim of the present study was to assess the 1-year stability of the MPOC to justify its use as an evaluative tool.

METHODS

Nine paediatric rehabilitation centres in the Netherlands participated in this short longitudinal survey study. Subjects were 205 parents (response rate 74.8%) of children aged 1-18 years who received care in one of the participating paediatric rehabilitation centres. All subjects filled out two MPOCs with a 1-year interval.

RESULTS

All correlations between the scale scores of the MPOC at the first and second administration were relatively high and significant (range: 0.443-0.609, all P < 0.001), demonstrating high inter-individual stability. However, all mean scale scores, except for Providing General Information, significantly reduced after 1 year.

CONCLUSIONS

The MPOC has a moderate 1-year stability. However, because of its tendency to score lower when repeated after 1 year, its use as an evaluative follow-up instrument to assess the effectiveness of a programme intervention is restricted.