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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Joseph Sudano, PhD¹, Aleece Caron, PhD², Melvin Smith, PhD³, and David Aron, MD, MS². (1) Center for Health Care Research and Policy, Case Western Reserve University at the MetroHealth System, Rammelkamp 236a, 2500 MetroHealth Drive, Cleveland, OH 44109, 216-778-1399, jsudano@metrohealth.org, (2) Health Services Research, Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 10701 East Boulevard 151(W), Cleveland, OH 44106, (3) Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, 433 Peter B. Lewis Building, Cleveland, OH 44106

Background: Quality of care and patient satisfaction depends on the individuals who interact and deliver care to patients. In addition to individual qualifications and characteristics, staff members belong to social networks both within and outside their facilities. Interactions within networks impact employee outcomes (job satisfaction, stress, commitment) and effect patient quality of care and satisfaction. The concept of social capital provides a means to measures these interactions and to identify leverage points for targeted interventions to improve employee outcomes, patient quality of care and satisfaction. However, measures of employee social capital have not been validated in health care settings. The goal of this project is to evaluate the psychometric properties of several established measures of social capital and employee outcomes modified for the health care setting. Methods: All clinical and non-clinical employees at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center (LSCDVAMC) who perform duties in Primary Care and Urgent Care Clinics were asked to complete a survey of social capital and employee outcomes. The instrument scales explored the social capital constructs of trust (6 items), shared vision (6 items), information sharing (5 items), and the employee outcomes constructs of organizational commitment (6 items), job stress (5 items), and job satisfaction (14-item Job Satisfaction Index). Results: 47 employees who work in the LSCDVAMC Firm and Urgent Care Clinics completed the pilot study (data collection ongoing). Demographics of respondents are as follows: average age 38.3 years; 45.7% female; 75% have post high school education with 57.6% identifying their discipline as medicine. Cronbach's alpha (mean, SD) are as follows: trust, 0.78 (2.45, 0.50): shared vision, 0.87 (3.00, 0.70); information sharing, 0.85 (3.00, 0.73); organizational commitment, 0.81 (3.22, 0.72); job stress, 0.90 (2.27, 0.71); and job satisfaction, 0.88 (3.47, 0.67). We also found that two employee outcomes--overall job satisfaction and organizational commitment--were moderately and significantly correlated with measures of social capital. Overall job satisfaction was significantly correlated with trust (r=0.40, p<0.01), shared vision (r=0.52, p<0.001), and information sharing (r=0.45, p<.01). Organizational commitment was weakly correlated with information sharing (r=.035, p<.05). Additionally, job stress was inversely correlated with job satisfaction (r=-0.45, p<0.01). Conclusions: All scales exhibited very good to excellent reliability. This project is the first step in developing valid and reliable tools for measuring social capital in health care settings and applying them in interventions designed to facilitate coordinated action where trust, shared vision, and information sharing are critical.

Learning Objectives:

• List the hypothesized relationships between social capital, employee outcomes, and patient quality of care and satisfaction.
• Describe the dimensions of social capital and other employee outcome constructs, and articulate the items used to measure each.
• Develop and field surveys to assess levels of social capital and other employee outcomes within their own organizations.

Keywords: Management, Quality of Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation