The goal of this study is to develop and validate a tool for measuring perceptions of caregivers of the quality of care and services in Geriatric Assessment Units. It has been designed so as to reproduce the notion of quality for caregivers. The validation of the tool is based on analyses of responses provided by caregivers (n = 274) to questions of perceived quality and to a certain number of questions necessary for the evaluation of its metric qualities. The measurement scale developed includes 25 items and it demonstrates good internal consistency. The Alpha Cronbach coefficients are 0.95 for the global index and they range from 0.88 to 0.91 on the sub-scales. The various analyses support a three-dimensional structure of the notion of quality for caregivers, explaining 66 per cent of the total variance. These dimensions are: “exchanges with professionals on the relative's condition,” “care given to a loved one,” and “planning the discharge”. It is hoped that this tool will promote the inclusion of the points of view of caregivers in the process of the improvement and assessment of quality.
