Primary Caregivers Satisfaction and its Related Factors in Home Health Care Services

Background: This study examined the satisfaction of primary caregivers of home health care services and its related factors. Methods: The design of the questionnaire was based on the concept of PZB service quality with SERVQUAL scale. The content of the questionnaire was divided into the expectations and actual perceptions of the home health care service with six dimensions, including reliability, tangibility, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and information giving, as well as the overall satisfaction. The questionnaire was mailed to the primary caregivers. A total of 146 valid questionnaires were obtained. Results: The mean age of the patients is 79.7 years. The mean total score of the primary caregivers on expected service level is 27.38 (standard deviation = 3.02, total score = 30) and 27.62 (standard deviation = 3.13, total = 30) for the actual perception. The primary caregivers showed a significantly higher score of perceived performances in the variables of home health care nurses being reliable, informing when to provide services, and being kind and friendly but had significantly lower score of perceived performance with the variable of home health care nurses completing the promised tasks. The overall satisfaction levels of home health care nurses are higher for those primary caregiver older than 30 years than those who were younger. The primary caregivers who are older than 30 years and had lower education level are more satisfied with the physicians. The siblings who served as the primary caregiver had the lowest perceived performance than others. The variables of "home health care nurses will provide detailed description of services," "home health care nurses will provide knowledge of illness," "home health care nurses can complete the promised tasks," and "home health care nurses will actively inquire patient's conditions and needs" were within the improvement zone in the "caregiver expectation and perceived performance matrix." Conclusion: This study showed that the overall perceived performance is higher than expectation for home health care service provided. The primary caregiver who was older than 30 years, who had lower education level, and other than siblings showed higher satisfaction. The four items that need improving included "home health care nurses will provide detailed description of services," "home health care nurses will provide knowledge of illness," "home health care nurses can complete the promised tasks," and "home health care nurses will actively inquire patient's conditions and needs." Copyright (C) 2011, Taiwan Society of Geriatric Emergency & Critical Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. All rights reserved.