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Factors influencing the quality of primary child healthcare : a parents' perspective

Mulder, S. (2017) Factors influencing the quality of primary child healthcare : a parents' perspective.

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Abstract:BACKGROUND:The health of children is of great importance, because the children of today will become the workers, civilians, parents and caregivers of tomorrow. The healthcare of children depends, among other things, on the healthcare system in a country, but also on the decisions the parents make when they look for healthcare for their child(ren). This is because children are often incapable of making their own healthcare decisions and are therefore a vulnerable group within our society. When choosing healthcare, the impression parents have on the quality of healthcare plays a large role in this. To this day, the surrounding literature does not make it clear which relative importance parents attach to factors regarding the quality of primary healthcare for their child. It is also unclear whether the scaling methods or the so-called Best-Worst Scaling (BWS) method is best to assess the importance of these factors. This is why this study is two-fold. On one hand, factors will be searched for that are of importance to the perception of parents regarding the quality of primary healthcare for their child. On the other hand, the most suitable assessment method will be investigated. METHOD: A mixed method study was performed. Factors were identified by studying literature and interviews that possibly influence the healthcare decisions of parents when they are looking for healthcare for their child(ren). Through literature and the conducted interviews, two surveys were devised that will measure which factors are of importance to the perception of parents regarding the primary healthcare for their child. The surveys consist of three parts, namely 1) previous experiences, 2) the importance of factors and 3) background questions. The importance of twenty factors was measured with a five-point scale in one of the surveys and the other with the Best-Worse Scaling (BWS) method. Which of these two methods is most suitable, in the context of this research, to measure the importance of factors was also investigated. A total of 138 respondents participated in this research in the period of December 17th 2016 to March 1st 2017. RESULTS: First of all, this research shows when looking at the importance of twenty factors that were measured with the surveys, parents find the factors: the healthcare provider is professional (BWS=167, mean= 3.85, SD= 0.40) and the healthcare provider takes child’s health seriously (BWS=163, mean=3.74, SD=0.44) the most important when it comes to quality healthcare for their child. Contrary to the most important factors, there were also factors that Dutch parents deemed least important, namely: helped through the healthcare provider at the agreed upon time (BWS=-143, mean=2.92, SD=0.97), distance to the practice of the healthcare provider (BWS=-182, mean=2.95, SD=0.98) and opening hours (BWS=-202, mean=2.77, SD=0.89). The results of the practical research also showed that the opinions regarding the affordability (mean= 3.17, SD=1.03) of healthcare varies strongly among the respondents. The results of the five-point scale and Best-Worst Scaling also show that the Best-Worst Scaling method is more suitable than the five-point scale, as this method created a stronger discrimination. However, when comparing the results (ranking) of the five-point scale and the BWS method, no large differences were found. CONCLUSION: The main finding of this research is that factors oriented on the service, like waiting times and opening hours were deemed to be less important in the perception of parents than the professionalism and relationship with the healthcare provider, when evaluating the quality of primary care for their children. In addition, the results of the five point scale and BWS also show that the BWS-method is more suitable than the five-point scale, as this method created a stronger discrimination.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:TNW: Science and Technology
Subject:70 social sciences in general
Programme:Health Sciences MSc (66851)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/73004
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