Best questions for patient survey about inclusion in care

Here are some of the best questions for a patient survey about inclusion in care, plus tips on how to craft them for the best results. With Specific, you can generate a survey in seconds—giving you a head start toward deeper patient insights.

The best open-ended questions for a patient survey about inclusion in care

Open-ended questions let patients share what really matters in their own words. Their answers deliver nuanced stories and actionable ideas you might miss with checkboxes. According to Cancer Research UK, open-ended questions in patient surveys on inclusion help you capture more context-rich, honest feedback, though they do take extra time both to answer and analyze. Still, they remain one of the most effective ways to gather authentic experiences, perspectives, and suggestions in healthcare. [1]

1. In your own words, how included do you feel in decisions about your care?

2. Can you describe a time when you felt especially included or excluded by your healthcare team?

3. What does “inclusive care” mean to you?

4. Have you ever felt that your background or identity has affected how your opinions were valued during your care? Please explain.

5. What changes would you suggest to make care more inclusive in this clinic or hospital?

6. Can you share a positive experience where you felt your preferences or values were respected?

7. Have you faced any challenges in communicating your care needs to your healthcare providers?

8. If you could change one thing about how your care team involves you in decisions, what would it be?

9. How well do your healthcare providers understand the cultural or personal factors important to you?

10. Is there anything else about inclusion in your care that you’d like us to know?

When you want depth, empathy, or unique perspective, these questions help uncover valuable, qualitative detail—insight you just can’t get any other way.

The best single-select multiple-choice questions for a patient survey about inclusion in care

Single-select multiple-choice questions work great when you need quantifiable data or want to lower the barrier for patients to share initial feedback. Sometimes it’s easier for people to pick a choice than try to describe experiences off the top of their head—once you’ve started that conversation, you can always dig deeper with a follow-up.

Question: Do you feel included in decisions about your care?

• Always

• Most of the time

• Sometimes

• Rarely

• Never

Question: How satisfied are you with how your healthcare team listens to your input?

• Very satisfied

• Satisfied

• Neutral

• Dissatisfied

• Very dissatisfied

Question: Have you ever felt your cultural, religious, or personal values were considered in your care?

• Yes, always

• Sometimes

• No

• Other

When to follow up with “why?” Use a follow-up “why?” or “can you share more?” when the multiple-choice answer suggests a problem (like “rarely” or “dissatisfied”). This often uncovers root causes and puts numbers into context. For example, after a patient selects “Rarely,” you might ask, “What makes you feel excluded from decisions?” This is where the real insight surfaces.

When and why to add the “Other” choice? Always include “Other” if you suspect there are relevant experiences or identities not covered by the preset choices. Follow-up questions after “Other” can reveal emerging issues, or highlight unique needs you hadn’t anticipated. These unstructured inputs can shape how you frame inclusion moving forward.

NPS questions for a patient survey about inclusion in care

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a powerful tool in healthcare, especially when exploring patient perceptions of inclusion. NPS asks: “How likely are you to recommend our care to friends or family?”—but you can tailor it: “How likely are you to recommend this clinic to someone, based on how included they feel in their care?” Responses help measure both satisfaction and the sense of belonging at a glance.

Try building an NPS survey for your patients using this ready-to-use template—it covers essential follow-up probes for detractors and promoters, making it easy to measure and improve inclusion.

The power of follow-up questions

The real game-changer for inclusion surveys is smart, automated follow-up questions. When a patient’s answer could mean many things, a generic form just can’t dig deeper. With Specific, the AI asks targeted follow-up questions in real-time—clarifying, exploring, and capturing stories just like an experienced interviewer. That context builds the full picture, not a half-baked snapshot.

• Patient: “I didn’t feel heard.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you tell me more about a moment where you didn’t feel listened to by your provider?”

Compare that to a survey with no follow-ups: you get “I didn’t feel heard” and no idea why, when, or what to fix.

How many follow-ups to ask? In our experience, two to three automated follow-ups are enough to clarify most patient responses—especially when you set rules (like in Specific) so the conversation moves forward once you have what you need. This keeps things natural and non-repetitive.

This makes it a conversational survey: Instead of a static form, your patients experience a dynamic, empathetic conversation—sharing more, and feeling more respected in the process.

AI analysis for unstructured answers: Using AI analysis, you can make sense of dozens or hundreds of nuanced open-ended answers in minutes. The AI categorizes phrases, pinpoints emerging themes, and even suggests which issues to tackle first.

Want to see how much deeper follow-up questions can take you? Try creating a test survey and watch how the AI collects stories, not just scores.

How to compose a prompt for AI to create better patient survey questions on inclusion in care

Getting the most out of an AI survey builder like Specific or ChatGPT depends on the prompts you write. Start simple, then add more context with each iteration.

Try this basic prompt first:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for patient survey about inclusion in care.

If you want a higher quality draft, add specific details about your patients (age groups, cultural backgrounds, local context), your goals (e.g., “understand barriers to inclusion for minority groups”), and your intended action:

I’m gathering feedback from adults in a multicultural clinic. My goal is to understand how well our current practices include patients from underrepresented backgrounds, and what we can do to improve. Suggest 10 open-ended questions for a patient survey about inclusion in care, focusing on both positive and negative experiences.

Next, ask the AI to organize the output for you. Structure matters:

Look at the questions above and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Finally, once you see the suggested categories (“Communication,” “Decision-making,” “Cultural considerations”), pick the ones most relevant to your survey. Go deep:

Generate 10 questions for these categories: Communication, Decision-Making, Respect for Personal Values.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey—like those you can build with Specific—is more than just a digital version of a questionnaire. It’s an interactive, chat-like experience where the AI not only asks your questions, but adapts in real-time. Every patient gets a human-feeling, personalized flow. Confusion or superficial answers can be clarified right away with natural, context-specific follow-ups. This isn’t possible with traditional manual forms.

Why use AI for patient surveys? Because you want richer, more honest feedback delivered at scale. AI-driven surveys surface insights you can act on fast—and make the whole experience more comfortable for your patients. Whether you’re doing a one-off feedback push or ongoing patient experience research, Specific’s conversational approach gets you fully contextual data, with less manual labor required.

Need a step-by-step walkthrough? See our guide on how to create a patient survey about inclusion in care with Specific’s AI-powered survey builder. If you want to skip straight to it, try the smart AI survey builder.

Specific’s interface is designed for effortless patient participation—so both creators and respondents get the best possible conversational survey experience.

See this inclusion in care survey example now

Start gathering deep, honest patient feedback today with a survey that adapts, listens, and analyzes—unlocking insights you simply can’t get from checkboxes and static forms.