Development and Validation of the Psychiatric Inpatient Experience (PIX) Survey: A Novel Measure of Patient Experience Quality Improvement

Abstract

Objective: Managing patient experience is critical in transforming organizational cultures into high-quality patient-centered care systems. Patient experience measurement should ideally entail a framework for understanding a patient's interactions and perceptions across the continuum of care. The purpose of this study was to develop a psychometrically valid survey via a rigorous measurement development and validation process. Methods: An initial 28-item, five-domain survey with 2 additional open-ended prompts for narrative feedback was developed and piloted using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on a sample of 2438 individuals. A thematic analysis was subsequently performed based on the open-ended items to elucidate primary and secondary themes of patients’ narrative feedback. Results were used to further inform a conceptual framework and item design. Results: Factor analyses produced 4 factors (treatment team relationships, nursing team presence, treatment effectiveness, and healing environment). These 4 factors are associated with inpatient psychiatric patient experience, suggesting validity. Discussion: The Psychiatric Inpatient Experience (PIX) ysurvey integrates patient experience theory as well as aspects of patient-centered care that are important to psychiatric inpatients. It provides organization and discipline-specific feedback to facilitate opportunities for patient experience improvements.