The relationships among structure, process, and satisfaction outcomes of diabetic older adults in foot care at sub-district health promotion hospital

Abstract

This study was a descriptive research which aimed to explore the relationships among structure, process, and satisfaction outcomes of diabetic older adults in foot care at the sub-district health promotion hospital based on the conceptual framework of  Donabedian Model. The sample included 88 sub-district health promotion hospitals providing foot care for diabetic older adults in Buriram Province. The selection was made by stratified Puposive sampling. The data were collected from 2 groups of respondents, comprising service providers at sub-district health promotion hospitals providing foot care for older adults in Buriram  Province, and service clients who were diabetic older adults visiting diabetes clinic at sub-district health promotion hospitals, each of which contained 88 persons. The data were collected from December 2013 – March 2014. There were 2 set of questionnaires, i.e., the questionnaire on the structure and process of foot care for officials at sub-district health promotion hospitals, and the questionnaire on satisfaction outcomes of diabetic older adults. The data analysis was conducted by using descriptive statistics, whereas the correlation analysis used the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient.

The findings of the study revealed that the overall quality of the structure of 88 sub-district health promotion hospitals was at a high level (M=3.60, SD=0.77), the overall operation of the foot care process at sub-district health promotion hospitals was at a high level (M=4.10, SD=0.62), and the overall satisfaction outcomes of diabetic older adults in foot care at sub-district health promotion hospitals was at the highest level (M=4.22, SD=0.47). Furthermore, the structure of sub-district health promotion hospitals and foot care process were not significantly related to satisfaction outcomes of diabetic older adults respectively (r=-.051, p<.05; r=.043, p<.05), but the structure of sub-district health promotion hospitals was significantly related to foot care process (r=.659,p <.01).

The findings of the study could be utilized as the fundamental information for the structure development in terms of the budget and the project implementation with an emphasis on foot care practice in order to help reduce cost and enhance efficiency in foot care for diabetic older adults.