Grasping the structure of the care management process evaluation items that are related to care management skills with regard to individual users: conducting verification through self-assessment by care managers

Objective: This study aimed to understand the structure of a self-assessment for evaluating the care management skills of individuals in the care management process. Materials and Methods: A survey was distributed to 964 care managers in home care management hailing from each committee in Japanese municipalities in Ibaraki, Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa, and Tokyo. The process implementation degree of care management in 46 care management process evaluation items was assessed using a five-point method. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were derived for the items, and an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to ascertain the factor structure. We also verified the relationship between the factor scores, presence or absence of a chief care manager, and years of experience. Results: We received 385 responses (response rate: 39.9%), of which 372 were included in the analysis (valid response rate: 96.6%). Six factors were extracted, and 29 items were retained because of the exploratory factor analysis. Three of the six factors did not exist in the existing scales and had a unique structure. The cumulative contribution rate of the six factors was 64.9%, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for all items was α=0.95, with Factor 1 being 0.88; Factor 2 being 0.83; Factor 3 being 0.86; Factor 4 being 0.85; Factor 5 being 0.80; and Factor 6 being 0.87. The total score for Factors 1, 2, 4, and 5 was significantly higher among chief care managers. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated to determine the correlation between scale scores and years of experience. Factor 1 (r=0.22) and Factor 2 (r=0.21) showed a modest positive correlation between the scale scores and years of experience. Conclusion: We retained 29 items and extracted six factors for the care manager self-assessment items that had a unique factor structure while following existing scales’ factor structure.