Designing a Questionnaire to Measure Factors Affecting Utilization of Services for Diabetics in Health Centers Based on Social Marketing Model

Abstract

Background: The needs and demands of patients as one of the pillars of marketing in the health field require the right tools to identify consumers’ requests. Objectives: This study was conducted to develop a tool to evaluate services utilization behavior by type 2 diabetics in health centers based on a social marketing model (ie, 7 Ps). Methods: This study was conducted in two main stages. The first stage was performed with the aim of the initial design of the tool (ie, a questionnaire) through a literature review and professionals’ opinions. The second stage was performed to confirm the validity and reliability of the prepared questionnaire in the previous stage through calculating the impact score, content validity index (CVI), content validity ratio (CVR), and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The study participants included 8 academic and executive experts in the field of health and diabetes, 30 diabetic patients to calculate the impact score, and 50 patients with diabetes to calculate the Cronbach’s alpha through test-retest. The data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 18). Results: According to the results of the first stage of the study, a questionnaire with 46 items was designed. After determining the formal and content validity quantitatively and qualitatively, 8 items were deleted, and a questionnaire with 38 items was provided. Finally, the validity and reliability of the instrument were confirmed (CVI = 0.91; CVR = 0.92; intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.89; Cronbach’s alpha = 0.92). Conclusions: This questionnaire with confirmed validity and reliability helps analyze the diabetics’ behavior and specifies the reasons for the acceptance or rejection of the services of the diabetes unit by patients. Therefore, it can be used in health centers providing services for diabetics.