Adapting and Using Quality Management Methods to Improve Health Promotion

The Use of the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System and the RAND VSQ9 to Measure the Quality of Life and Visit-Specific Satisfaction of Pregnant Patients Under Chiropractic Care Utilizing the Webster Technique

Objective: To quantify the quality of life (QoL) and visit-specific satisfaction of pregnant women.

Design: A prospective cohort within a practice-based research network (PBRN).

Setting/Locations: Individual chiropractic offices.

Subjects: Pregnant women (age ≥18 years) attending chiropractic care.

Intervention(s): Chiropractic care (i.e., The Webster Technique, spinal adjustments, and adjunctive therapies).

Main outcome measures: The RAND VSQ9 to measure visit-specific satisfaction and the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS^®)-29 to measure QoL.

Results: A convenience sample of 343 pregnant patients (average age = 30.96 years) comprised their study population. They were highly educated with 75% attaining a 2-year associate's degree or higher. The pregnant patients presented for chiropractic care with a mean week of gestation of 25.67 weeks (median = 28 weeks; range = 0–42 weeks) and parity (i.e., the number of live births) of 0.92 live births (median = 1; range = 0–6). From baseline (i.e., at study entrance with minimum first visit) and comparative (i.e., following a course of chiropractic care), the VSQ9 measurements revealed increasingly high satisfaction on the part of the subjects (i.e., the mean difference of baseline minus comparative measures = −0.7322; p < 0.005). The median number of visits (i.e., visits attended) at baseline and comparative measures was 1.00 (standard deviation [SD] = 22.69) and 3.30 (SD = 22.71), respectively. Across outcomes, QoL improved from baseline to comparative measurement after holding constant for visit number and time lapse, trimester of pregnancy, and care provider type. There was a reduction in mean T scores associated with fatigue (p < 0.05), pain interference (p < 0.05), sleep disturbance (p < 0.05), and an improvement in satisfaction with social roles (p < 0.05). A significant decrease was also found with pain interference (p < 0.05). No evidence was found that anxiety (p = 0.1404) or depression (p = 0.8785) changed.

Conclusion: A PBRN study was successfully implemented among chiropractors to find pregnant patients highly satisfied and their QoL scores improving with care beyond chance.