• Linda Lindeke, Jayne Fulkerson, Mary Chesney, Lauren Johnson, and Kay Savik.
• School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, 308 Harvard Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. linde001@umn.edu
• Nurs Adm Q. 2009 Jan 1; 33 (1): 26-31.

BackgroundFew validated pediatric tools exist to directly gather data about children's perceptions of their own healthcare; parent surveys are typically used as proxies. A psychometrically sound, child-focused survey captures children's unique perceptions for quality improvement.ObjectivesThis study developed and evaluated reliability of a survey, assessed score differences by children's age, and compared the responses of children and parents.MethodThe Children's Perceptions of Healthcare Survey was developed for inpatient and outpatient quality improvement. Following expert review, the tool was administered to 237 parent-child dyads at the time of discharge from an inpatient pediatric unit (n = 121) and after outpatient clinic visits (n = 116). Responses were analyzed and compared.ResultsInternal consistency reliability for the tool was high (child/adolescents: alpha = .84; parents: alpha = .86), with no significant differences by child age or child gender. Parent and child scores were significantly correlated (r = 0.29, P < .001). About half of parents' scores were higher than their children's scores.DiscussionThis tool worked well to collect data from a wide age range of children across healthcare settings. Children's perceptions were unique; involving children in care assessment is worthwhile and captures insights missed when only parents are surveyed. The Children's Perceptions of Healthcare Survey is a valid, psychometrically sound tool to capture children's unique perspectives regarding their healthcare and may be useful for system quality improvement.

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