Development and Testing of a Staff Questionnaire for Evaluating the Quality of Services at Nursing Homes in Japan

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to develop a self-assessment tool for evaluating the quality of services provided in nursing homes in Japan and to test the validity of the imputation method for the analysis of missing data. Design: A mailed survey based on a self-administered questionnaire. Setting: Gifu Prefecture in central Japan. Participants: We recruited 124 health care workers from 15 nursing homes located in the Gifu Prefecture. Measurements: Demographic data, self-assessment of the quality of services provided in nursing homes, Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, General Health Questionnaire, self-rated score of the nursing facility, and job satisfaction. Results: Factor analysis with maximum-likelihood estimation extracted a factor in both the complete observed data and the data obtained by imputing values using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. The factor score was significantly associated with burnout, self-rated score of the nursing facility, and job satisfaction. Conclusions: The simple self-assessment tool that was developed in this study for evaluating the quality of services provided in nursing homes has high internal reliability and criterion-related validity. The imputation method using the EM algorithm might be useful for the analysis of missing data with regard to long-term care and management. (J Am Med Dir Assoc 2009;10:189-195)