What matters while assessing quality of social services? Stakeholders’ perspective in Czechia

Abstract

Quality of public services including social services is an issue frequently discussed by policy makers, service providers, and by those who represent service users. The aim of this study was to explore how stakeholders perceive quality of social services, with a particular focus on (1) what did participants rate as important; (2) what is the relative importance of each domain and how does that differ across stakeholder groups and (3) does importance vary by participant characteristics. A specially designed questionnaire was completed by 217 service providers, by 249 public administration representatives and 205 service users of residential care and in-home support. The subjective quality of life of service users was rated as the most important indicator of service quality by all three stakeholder groups. Particularly important were items that related to the nature of the relationships and interactions between staff and service users. There were some differences between stakeholder groups and also by respondent characteristics–public administration respondents, older service users and providers of residential care were more likely to rate health care as more important than other respondents. Implications for how quality is measured are discussed.