The Chinese-version of the CARE Measure reliably differentiates between doctors in primary care: a cross-sectional study in Hong Kong

BMC Family Practice

Research Article

Stewart W Mercer¹  Douglas Murphy²  Fiona YY Wong³  Colman SC Fung³  Samuel YS Wong³  Frank WK Chan³ 

[1] Primary Care Research, General Practice and Primary Care, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK;Quality, Safety and Informatics Research Group, Division of Clinical and Population Sciences and Education, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, UK;School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, N.T, Hong Kong;

关键词: CARE Measure;    reliability;    consultations;    empathy;    Hong Kong China;    primary care;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2296-12-43

 received in 2010-10-15, accepted in 2011-06-01,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure is a widely used patient-rated experience measure which has recently been translated into Chinese and has undergone preliminary qualitative and quantitative validation. The objective of this study was to determine the reliability of the Chinese-version of the CARE Measure in reliably differentiating between doctors in a primary care setting in Hong KongMethodsData were collected from 984 primary care patients attending 20 doctors with differing levels of training in family medicine in 5 public clinics in Hong Kong. The acceptability of the Chinese-CARE measure to patients was assessed. The reliability of the measure in discriminating effectively between doctors was analysed by Generalisability-theory (G-Theory)ResultsThe items in the Chinese-CARE measure were regarded as important by patients and there were few 'not applicable' responses. The measure showed high internal reliability (coefficient 0.95) and effectively differentiated between doctors with only 15-20 patient ratings per doctor (inter-rater reliability > 0.8). Doctors' mean CARE measure scores varied widely, ranging from 24.1 to 45.9 (maximum possible score 50) with a mean of 34.6. CARE Measure scores were positively correlated with level of training in family medicine (Spearman's rho 0.493, p < 0.05).ConclusionThese data demonstrate the acceptability, feasibility and reliability of using the Chinese-CARE Measure in primary care in Hong Kong to differentiate between doctors interpersonal competencies. Training in family medicine appears to enhance these key interpersonal skills.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Mercer et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011