Comparison of Multivariate Analysis Methodologies in a Palliative Care Setting

This study is focused on measuring the quality and the satisfaction with the palliative care provided to oncology patients in domicile. The SERVQUAL methodology adapted for the Portuguese context was used to evaluate the quality of palliative care and patient satisfaction. The Portuguese SERVQUAL questionnaire is composed of five perception scales and two questionnaires, one about the patient and another about the caregiver. The data analysis presented is the analysis of the answers to the five perception scales, composed of partial ordered variables, evaluating different aspects of quality and satisfaction.The data was analysed comparing metric and symbolic approaches, using Principal Component Analysis Methods and Agglomerative Hierarchical Cluster Analysis Models. The results suggest that a symbolic approach provides a more comprehensive analysis for this kind of data.