Measuring the Perceived Importance of Indicators of the Quality of Social Care Services

Figures & data

Table 1. Basic characteristics of the respondents from the individual groups of stakeholders.

	Public administration	Service providers	Service users
Total number of respondents	249	217	205
% female	88%	87%	60%
Age group (% in each group)
20–29	6%	6.5%	3%
30–39	20%	21%	8%
40–49	36.5%	35%	17%
50–59	33%	30%	10%
60–69	4%	7%	14%
70 or older	0.5%	0.5%	47%
Percentage of providers of residential services	–	55%	–
Percentage of providers in home/supported living services	–	45%	–
Percentage of users in services for the elderly (residential and in-home support)	–	–	50%
Percentage of users living in services for people with disabilities (residential and in home support)	–	–	50%

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of the individual items of the questionnaire (n = 337).

No. and content of item	Mean	Standard deviation	Median	Skewness coefficient (Pearson)	KMO value
1.Assess users´ individual needs and planning.	4.51	0.78	5	−2.27	0.93
2.Accredited care programmes provided by trained staff.	4.22	0.82	4	−1.61	0.85
3.Regular leisure, educational, cultural, spiritual activities for service users.	3.95	0.92	4	−1.20	0.68
4.Support to participate in activities outside	3.96	1.15	4	−1.40	0.71
5.Systematic social work, advocating for interests of service users.	4.00	1.01	4	−1.26	0.79
6.Targeted sensory, physical, cognitive stimulation and activation.	4.06	0.98	4	−1.39	0.83
7.Assistance in the use of public services and provisions.	3.99	1.06	4	−1.33	0.86
8.Support social contacts with family and friends.	4.50	0.88	5	−2.38	0.88
9.Availability of assistive technologies and compensatory aids.	4.05	1.18	4	−1.43	0.88
10.Prompt and effective adjustment of care when conditions of service users change.	4.52	0.69	5	−1.81	0.65
11. Effective and ethically appropriate solutions to the problems associated with dementia.	4.42	0.75	5	−1.61	0.73
12.The service user experiences the atmosphere of the service as positive.	4.53	0.62	5	−1.42	0.71
13.The service user perceives the behavior of the staff as friendly.	4.56	0.59	5	−1.31	0.61
14.The service user experiences supportive and patient behavior of staff.	4.40	0.78	5	−1.73	0.61
15.The service user experiences a sense of self-control over daily activities.	4.08	0.92	4	−1.13	0.83
16.The service user experiences respectful behavior of the personal, who is familiar with his history.	4.45	0.69	5	−1.41	0.87
17.The service user experiences the feeling that his privacy is respected.	4.55	0.74	5	−2.29	0.73
18. The service user experiences a sense of security in the service.	4.60	0.61	5	−1.57	0.84
19. The service user experiences a sense of trust.	4.57	0.59	5	−1.38	0.77
20.The service user experiences a feeling of emotional support from the staff.	4.27	1.00	5	−1.76	0.89
21. The health of service user is carefully monitored and evaluated.	4.32	0.81	4	−1.41	0.64
22. The service is able to provide palliative care.	4.44	0.83	5	−1.80	0.91
23. The service has enough qualified nurses for day-long care.	4.18	1.04	4	−1.55	0.67
24. Medical care available when needed.	3.92	1.21	4	−1.06	0.73
25. Physiotherapy is provided when needed.	3.76	1.20	4	−0.94	0.87
26. Meals are controlled by a nutrition expert.	3.46	1.31	4	−0.68	0.92
27. Suitable and well-equipped areas for activities.	4.28	0.79	4	−1.40	0.67
28. Pleasant environment in the area.	4.08	0.85	4	−1.38	0.65
29. Comfortable accommodation offers privacy.	4.31	1.07	5	−1.85	0.60
30. Quality laundry and catering services.	4.10	0.94	4	−1.38	0.71
31. Respect for service users’ rights.	4.46	0.70	5	−1.28	0.73
32. Finding solutions and making decisions together with the client.	4.38	0.76	5	−1.43	0.92
33. Service provider plans in cooperation with service user.	4.48	0.68	5	−1.61	0.91
34. Effective resolution of situations threatened by violence or abuse.	4.47	0.76	5	−1.84	0.94
35. Open and understandable information and communication with service user.	4.43	0.74	5	−1.70	0.75
36. Regular survey of the satisfaction of service users and their families.	4.11	0.82	4	−1.22	0.81
37. Standardized procedure for solving ethical problems.	4.04	0.85	4	−0.89	0.64
38. Complaints are handled fairly and are used to identify and resolve problems.	4.05	0.99	4	−1.54	0.81
39. The service provider is part of the local community and participates in its activities.	3.92	1.08	4	−1.30	0.86
40. The service provider works with family and friends.	4.16	1.10	4	−1.64	0.78

Figure 1. Scree plot and cumulative variance from exploratory factor analysis.

Table 3. Factor loading and communalities for the individual items of the questionnaire (Oblimin rotation).

No. item	F1 loading	F2 loading	F3 loading	F4 loading	F5 loading	Communality
1	0.50	0.17	0.12	−0.06	0.42	0.48
2	0.47	0.31	0.28	0.20	0.22	0.48
3	0.53	0.27	0.11	0.37	0.02	0.51
4	0.66	0.11	0.13	0.32	0.17	0.59
5	0.59	0.06	0.30	0.09	0.03	0.45
6	0.52	0.17	0.27	0.17	0.23	0.45
7	0.67	0.11	0.21	0.08	0.23	0.56
8	0.51	0.16	0.09	−0.11	0.41	0.47
9	0.49	0.19	0.27	−0.06	0.34	0.47
10	0.51	0.41	0.10	−0.11	0.36	0.58
11	0.59	0.41	0.13	0.01	0.29	0.61
12	0.13	0.61	0.06	0.17	0.30	0.51
13	0.22	0.77	0.02	0.30	0.08	0.73
14	0.40	0.53	0.10	0.21	0.41	0.66
15	0.34	0.51	−0.02	0.23	0.41	0.60
16	0.41	0.44	0.12	0.15	0.41	0.57
17	0.31	0.47	0.10	−0.08	0.40	0.49
18	0.03	0.59	0.23	0.11	0.32	0.52
19	0.21	0.69	0.18	−0.01	0.36	0.68
20	0.31	0.53	0.33	0.02	0.30	0.58
21	0.14	0.38	0.55	0.15	0.09	0.50
22	0.23	0.39	0.51	0.01	0.13	0.50
23	0.14	0.27	0.76	−0.03	0.06	0.67
24	0.13	0.07	0.83	0.10	0.16	0.74
25	0.23	0.01	0.62	0.11	0.19	0.48
26	0.25	−0.07	0.63	0.16	0.26	0.56
27	0.00	0.37	0.29	0.52	0.23	0.54
28	0.00	0.12	0.17	0.77	0.23	0.68
29	0.27	0.14	0.23	0.46	0.30	0.45
30	0.04	0.19	0.38	0.47	0.35	0.53
31	0.17	0.33	0.11	−0.02	0.67	0.60
32	0.30	0.34	0.08	0.05	0.64	0.62
33	0.24	0.38	0.11	−0.01	0.65	0.64
34	0.18	0.38	0.23	0.04	0.58	0.57
35	0.24	0.37	0.12	0.13	0.64	0.64
36	0.22	0.09	0.13	0.29	0.73	0.68
37	0.16	0.12	0.16	0.21	0.73	0.64
38	0.23	0.06	0.21	0.05	0.67	0.55
39	0.14	0.16	0.18	0.30	0.57	0.49
40	0.30	0.12	0.26	−0.07	0.53	0.45

Note. The highest factor loading for the individual item is in bold.

Table 4. Internal consistency (Cronbach´s alpha) for the individual factors of the questionnaire and groups of stakeholders.

	Service providers (n = 217)	Public administration (n = 249)	Service users (n = 205)	Whole sample (n = 671)
F1. Social care	0.93	0.88	0.82	0.94
F2. Subjective quality of life	0.89	0.93	0.72	0.93
F3. Health care	0.88	0.91	0.71	0.92
F4. Quality of the environment	0.85	0.82	0.42	0.83
F5. Ethics	0.92	0.95	0.82	0.95

Data availability statement

Data are available on request at the corresponding author of the manuscript.