Article

Measuring the quality of care for people using neuro-rehabilitation
services is a complex area requiring reliable methods that account for variable
communication abilities/cognitive functioning. Dementia Care Mapping (DCM) is an
observational method widely used in dementia care to improve person-centred care,
which may be usefully applied to neuro-rehabilitation settings. Evaluation is
vital to determine the tool's acceptability in this setting. PURPOSE: To explore
the views of staff/patients regarding whether the use of DCM is acceptable in a
neuro-rehabilitation setting. METHOD: DCM was conducted on an acute
neuro-rehabilitation ward. Q-methodology, a technique for extracting subjective
opinions, was used with 23 staff and 10 patients on the ward to evaluate the
acceptability of DCM. RESULTS: Factor analysis was performed separately for staff
and patient Q-sorts. Each found a "consensus" factor where all participants
indicated positive acceptability for the use of DCM. Further exploratory factors
indicated that some staff/patients had additional views/concerns that were not
captured by the first consensus factor. CONCLUSIONS: The results from this
preliminary study are promising and indicate that DCM is potentially an
acceptable tool to use in acute neuro-rehabilitation. Further research is needed
to explore the acceptability of this tool more widely across neuro-rehabilitation
settings. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: Person-centred care is widely
acknowledged as being important in all care settings, including
neurorehabilitation. Dementia Care Mapping was deemed to be an acceptable
approach for improving the quality of person-centred care on the basis of the
views of staff and patients in a neurorehabilitation ward. Dementia Care Mapping,
with adaptations for neurorehabilitation settings, successfully provides an
acceptable framework for measuring and improving the quality of person-centred
care in this setting.

Langue : ANGLAIS