A postal survey was conducted among all 72 PSTs in GHs in Flanders. PSTs were recently regulated by law. Little is known about the views held by PSTprofessionals on the policies of care for palliative patients.
Objectives: To provide representative conclusions about the number of staff and their profession, the organisation of the care and the views on PC, PM and TC.
Methods: Questionnaires were sent to all 72 coordinators of PSTs and a selection of 216 professionals working in PSTs. The average time to fill out the questionnaire was over one hour. Different strategies were used to reduce the potential non response. Among them the Total Design Method (TDM) (Dillman, 1978) which is a tested cost effictive method to increase response rates. We ensured anonymity, contacted most of our respondents beforehand, set a strict deadline and organised follow-ups. We benefited a great deal from our connections with the Flemish League against Cancer and the Federation of Palliative Care Flanders. The impact of the support of these institutions was probably quite significant. The mailing was personalized and non-responders were contacted and invited to participate.
Results: The overall response rate was 71%. The response was high for the coordinators (79.1%) and fair for the PST professionals (67.6%). Of 97.2% of the PSTs, at least one completed questionnaire reached us. The characteristics of the respondents are representative and non respondents showed the same characteristics as the survey population.
Conclusions: It is possible to increase the response rate using low-cost (additional) strategies, even when using an elaborate questionnaire. In this case, it also lead to representative data.