Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase
302258
Effect of Proxy Respondents on Quality of Life Survey Results
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Glenn Landers, Sc.D., MBA, MHA
,
Georgia Health Policy Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
Kristi Fuller, MSW
,
Georgia Health Policy Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
Mohammad Khalaf, MPH
,
Georgia Health Policy Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
Elizabeth Kauss, MSW
,
Georgia Health Policy Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
This study explores the association between Money Follows the Person (MFP) program quality of life (QoL) survey outcomes and type of survey respondent. The initial sample included 404 matched surveys of subjects who completed pre- and post-transition surveys from January 2009 to July 2013. A sub-analysis of supplemental questions was conducted with 42 persons with a developmental disability. Two measures of quality of life were assessed. One question asked if the participant was happy with the way he or she lived their life. The second question asked if people who helped the participant listened to them. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relationships between the type of survey respondent (sample member alone versus proxy) and the hypothesized correlates. Being a proxy respondent was significantly correlated with each of the constructs of happiness and quality of care in both the overall sample (happiness: r = 0.276, p < 0.000; quality of care: r = 0.261, p < 0.000) and the sample of those with a developmental disability (happiness: r = 0.312, p < 0.000; quality of care: r = 0.400, p < 0.000). Quality of care (r = 0.535, p = 0.040) was significantly correlated with QOL only when a proxy respondent was a service provider for a person with a developmental disability. Findings have important implications for the larger context of how proxy responses should be interpreted.
Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences
Learning Objectives:
Describe the Money Follows the Person rebalancing demonstration program.
Assess the ways the type of survey respondent affect quality of life responses.
Explain the implications of using proxy respondents and how findings should be interpreted.
Keyword(s): Evaluation, Long-Term Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the data analyst of the Money Follows the Person program with Georgia Health Policy Center for three years. I have presented material on this project at numberous national conferences and stakeholder meetings.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
