Assessing the satisfaction of older adults with long-term care services: Measurement and design challenges for social work

During the past decade, the movement to empower consumers in all areas of social work practice has been joined by the growing recognition of the importance of the consumer's perspective in assessing and monitoring health and social services. An increasing number of social work practitioners and researchers have called for greater consumer involvement in assessing the quality of services related to the long-term care needs of older adults. This article presents an overview of strategies and approaches that social workers can use to measure the satisfaction of older consumers with long-term care services. Specific issues in the design of satisfaction instruments are discussed in detail. The article concludes by arguing that these issues, although technical in nature, must be addressed in social work research if the profession's claim of concern for consumer empowerment is to be realized.