Clients’ perspective on quality of audiology care: Development of the Consumer Quality Index (CQI) ‘Audiology Care’ for measuring client experiences

Abstract

Objective: Clients’ perspective on the quality of audiology care has not been investigated thoroughly. Research has focused primarily on satisfaction with, and limitations of hearing aids. We developed a Consumer Quality Index (CQI) questionnaire ‘Audiology Care’ to systematically assess client experiences with audiology care. Design: The CQI Audiology Care was developed in three steps: (1) posing open-ended questions through e-mail (n = 14), (2) two small-scale surveys assessing psychometric properties of the questionnaire (n = 188) and importance of quality aspects (n = 118), and (3) a large-scale survey (n = 1793) assessing psychometric properties and discriminatory power of the questionnaire. Study sample: People with complex hearing impairments and/or balance and communicative disorders who visited an audiology care centre during the past year. Results: Important quality aspects were translated into seven reliable scales: accommodation and facilities, employees’ conduct and expertise, arrangement of appointments, waiting times, client participation and effectiveness of treatment. Client experiences differed among the participating centres concerning accommodation and facilities, arrangement of appointments, waiting times and client participation. Conclusion: The CQI Audiology Care is a valid and reliable instrument to assess clients’ experiences with audiology care. Future implementation will reveal whether results can be used to monitor and improve the quality of audiology care.

Key Words:

• Audiology
• hearing care
• client’s perspective
• quality of care

Acknowledgements

Support for this study was provided by Fonds PGO, a department of the Dutch ministry of Health that finances projects of national client organisations. The current project was coordinated by the Centre for Consumer Experience in Healthcare (now part of Netherlands Institute for Health Care Quality) and the NVVS (Dutch client organization for people with hearing disabilities). Besides representatives of these two organizations, the following stakeholders were involved: Stichting Miletus (a foundation representing almost all Dutch health insurance companies concerning research on patient/client experiences with health care), FENAC (a sector association for audiology care centres), representatives of a few audiology care centres and representatives of a few health insurance companies. A total of 21 audiology care centres participated in the study and selected the respondents.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.