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Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC)

(MPOC-56 & MPOC-20)

The Measure of Processes of Care (pronounced "em-pock") is a well-validated and reliable self-report measure of parents' perceptions of the extent to which the health services they and their child(ren) receive are family-centred. The original version of MPOC is a 56-item questionnaire; as of 1999 there is a shorter, 20-item version.

The MPOC manual can be downloaded free of charge


Reference for the manual: King, S., Rosenbaum, P., & King, G. (1995). The Measure of Processes of Care: A means to assess family-centred behaviours of health care providers. Hamilton, ON: McMaster University, Neurodevelopmental Clinical Research Unit


The MPOC-56 and MPOC-20 can be downloaded free of charge:


More information about the MPOC: The purpose of the MPOC is to assess parents' perceptions of the care they and their children receive from children's rehabilitation treatment centres. It is a means to assess family-centred behaviours of health care providers.

Validated on samples of parents whose children range in age from 0 to 17+ years and who had a variety of neurodevelopmental disabilities or maxillofacial disorders.

MPOC contains 56 items which have five factor analytically determined scales:

  • Enabling and Partnership
  • Providing General Information
  • Providing Specific Information about the Child
  • Coordinated and Comprehensive Care for the Child and Family
  • Respectful and Supportive Care


Various studies of MPOC-56's reliability and validity have been conducted. These demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha ranging from .63 to .96) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from .78 to .88). Validity has been shown with: (a) positive correlations between MPOC scale scores and a measure of satisfaction, and (b) negative correlations between MPOC scale scores and a measure of the stress experienced by parents when dealing with their child's treatment centre. Also, responses to MPOC indicate that various components of service provision are experienced differently by parents, with data showing variations across scale scores by both individuals and groups of parent respondents.

For each item parents respond to a common question: "To what extent do the people who work with your child...".A 7-point response scale is used, with the following response options available: 7 indicated that the service provider engaged in this behaviour "to a very great extent", 6 = "to a great extent", 5 = "to a fairly great extent", 4 = "to a moderate extent", 3 = "to a small extent", 2 = "to a very small extent", and 1 = "not at all". A score of 0 indicated that the item was "not applicable".

A respondent's data yield five scores, one for each of the factors or scales. There is no total score. A scale score is obtained by computing the average of the items' ratings. Instructions for scoring are included in the manual. Programming statements for use with SPSS-PC+ are available from the first author.

15-20 minutes for most parents.

Reliability and validity of MPOC-56 as a discriminative measure have been demonstrated.

  • MPOC measures parents' perceptions of important aspects of care on a specific behavioural level, and is a very useful tool for program evaluation.
  • It is a theoretically sound measure of family-centred service. The scales fit well with the key constructs about caregiving found in the literature that are fundamental to family-centredness and are associated with client outcomes.
  • MPOC has wide applicability. Over 1600 parents from across the province of Ontario have been involved in its development. Both mothers and fathers have participated, and their children were receiving a variety of services and were not limited to any specific diagnostic categories.
  • Parents have found MPOC to be user-friendly with simple instructions and lay language.
  • As a self-administered questionnaire, it is very suitable for mailed surveys and use in clinic settings, without the need of an interviewer.
  • You may reprint/copy the questionnaire for use as many times as needed. It is not necessary to purchase additional forms from the authors.

You may also be interested in viewing the following journal articles:

  • King, S., Rosenbaum, P., & King, G. (1996). Parents' perceptions of care-giving: Development and validation of a measure of processes. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 38, 757-772.
  • King, S., King, G., & Rosenbaum, P. (2004). Evaluating Health Service Delivery to Children With Chronic Conditions and Their Families: Development of a Refined Measure of Processes of Care (MPOC-20). Children's Health Care, 33(1), 35-57.

 

Distribution and Translation of MPOC-56 & MPOC-20:

CanChild grants permission for printing of this document but does not allow the sale of the MPOC-56 & MPOC-20, which should be made available for free everywhere. If you do decide to use this measure, please maintain all of its content and any references to CanChild, authors, copyright information, etc. as they currently appear. Please do not change either the scaling of the response options or the sense of the items, because the measurement properties of the instrument are based entirely on using the measure the way it was originally designed and field tested. Please contact us at canchild@mcmaster.ca for any minor changes you may be considering.

In addition, MPOC-56 & MPOC-20 has been translated by colleagues, and made available to all, in the following language:

Translated MPOC-56:

Dutch, Hebrew, Japanese


Translated MPOC-20:

Arabic, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Portuguese (Portugal), Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Traditional Chinese (Taiwanese Context)


Translations of measures and materials on the CanChild website are performed by individuals who are fluent in both English and their own language. CanChild requires a ‘back translation’ of the document by a different person than the original translator to ensure accuracy. The customs and culture of various regions may not be reflected accurately unless a validation study has been conducted.

Please refer to the CanChild Guidelines for Translation of the MPOC for details about obtaining permission to translate the MPOC-56 & MPOC-20.