Paired Interviews to Evaluate Patient and Proxy Responses on Patient Experience of Care Surveys (PECS)

Abstract

Paired interviews are used to evaluate whether a questionnaire functions properly for both the target respondent and an alternate respondent (proxy). We developed a new application of this tool to evaluate whether a Patient Experience of Care Survey (PECS) for long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) and inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) functioned acceptably for patients and their family members. Frequently, patients in LTCHs and IRFs cannot fully recall their care experience and are often unable to complete surveys because of cognitive or physical limitations. For this project, researchers conducted interviews with 20 paired respondents: a patient and a proxy. Results revealed that the patient and their proxy went through similar response strategies and answered questions similarly to each other a majority of the time. We concluded that the questionnaires function acceptably for patients and proxies.