Development of the CAHPS Nursing Home Family Member Survey
The Family Survey has been through the following development process:
Focus groups. In the early phase of development, CAHPS researchers conducted focus groups with nursing home residents and their family members. These groups provided the team with valuable information about what topics and measures were important to them. This information, combined with a literature review, helped the team develop initial sets of survey items.
Call for measures. On May 6, 2004, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality published a call for measures in the Federal Register. After reviewing the questionnaires and items received in response to that notice, the team prepared a draft instrument for testing purposes.
Cognitive testing of survey questions. In 2005 and 2006, the items in this instrument went through two rounds of cognitive testing with people who have family members in nursing homes.
Technical Expert Panel. The team benefited from the expertise of a Technical Expert Panel (TEP), which met in November 2005 and February 2008. Members of the TEP offered different perspectives on the use and value of a questionnaire for family members and provided valuable feedback on the proposed items and analyses.
Field testing. With the assistance of the Texas State Long Term Care Ombudsman, the CAHPS Team conducted a field test at 15 nursing homes in Texas between October 2006 and January 2007. Additionally, the Health Quality Council of Alberta conducted an independent field test with 14 nursing homes in Alberta, Canada, and contributed their data for the psychometric analyses.
Submission to CMS. In September 2008, AHRQ submitted the Family Member Instrument to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services along with the CAHPS Consortium's recommendations.
Learn more:
- Li Y, Li Q, Tang Y. Associations between family ratings on experience with care and clinical quality-of-care measures for nursing home residents. Med Care Res Rev 2016 Feb;73(1): 62-84.
- Frentzel EM, Sangl JA, Evensen CT, et al. Giving voice to the vulnerable: the development of a CAHPS nursing home survey measuring family members' experiences. Med Care 2012 Nov;50(Suppl): S20-7.
