Improving Quality of Life for Older People in Long-Stay Care ...

to the research team; secondly, it was evident from the pilot study that a singledate for return would impact negatively on overall response rate as the manager/proprietor would not necessarily be on duty on the specified date. It was decided,therefore, that the questionnaire should be collected by post only and that a longertime span for return be given.4.4.3 Main SurveyA questionnaire was sent to all facilities (n = 526). Responses were tracked andthose who had not returned the questionnaire by a specified date were followedup and telephoned individually. The purpose of this was to encourage participants toreturn the questionnaire and to clarify with participants any issues they had in fillingin the questionnaire. The questionnaire was reissued to all participants who had notreturned the questionnaire by a specified date. These strategies helped maximisethe response rate. The final response rate was 332 (62 per cent), which is excellentfor a postal questionnaire of this type. The response rate varied across facility type;the highest rate was achieved in welfare homes (95 per cent) and lowest in privatenursing homes (56 per cent).86An examination of non-response was undertaken to identify if there was anypattern underlying non-response. None was evident; there were responses fromall types of facilities and locations. Table 4.3 below outlines the response rate byfacility type.Table 4.3: Questionnaires returned by category of facilityNumber ofquestionnairessentNumber ofquestionnairesreturnedGeriatrichomes/hospitalsWelfarehomesDistrict/communityhospitalsVoluntarygeriatrichomes/hospitalsPrivatenursinghomesTotal53 19 48 61 345 52637 18 34 43 193 325Response rate 6 70% 95% 71% 70% 56% 62%6 The response rate identified above refers to the classification of facilities used at the start of thestudy. Some survey respondents had recategorised themselves when the survey was returned.Improving Quality of Life for Older People in Long-Stay Care Settings in Ireland