Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether parents rate their children's care differently when they also rate their own care than when they do not.
Methods: Subjects were employees of Washington State who had been enrolled in a health plan for at least 6 months and who had at least one covered child. Subjects were randomly assigned to four study groups that were surveyed using different protocols. To assess the stability of responses over time, a follow-up telephone interview was conducted with individuals in two of the groups.
Results: Parents or guardians who received both the Adult and Child Surveys were less likely to complete a survey than those who received only one survey. Responses to selected survey questions were quite stable between survey administrations. Parents who rated only their child's health care experiences generally gave more positive responses than those who also rated their own care, although few of these differences were statistically significant. This may have been due, in part, to the lower response rates in the latter group. The pairs of survey questions that ask about the adult's and child's experiences with the same aspects of care had moderate to high levels of association. The pair with the weakest association asked how clearly the doctor or nurse explained things to the adult or the child.
Conclusions: Sending both an adult and child survey to an adult could have an effect on the pattern of responses and result in lower response rates, but this might be a cost-effective way to collect reports about both adult and child health care.