Development and validity of the questionnaire of patients’ experiences in postacute outpatient physical therapy settings

Abstract

Background. Patient feedback surveys are increasingly seen as a key component of health care quality monitoring and improvement. Objective. The study objective was to describe the development and initial psychometric evaluation of a fixed-length questionnaire about the experiences of patients receiving physical therapist treatment in postacute outpatient settings. Design. This was an instrument development study with validity and reliability testing. Methods. A total of 465 participants attending 3 rehabilitation centers for musculoskeletal conditions completed the questionnaire. A cognitive pretest was applied to the draft version (n=94), and a revised version was evaluated for test-retest reliability (n=90). Analyses to evaluate variance and nonresponse rates for items, the factor structure of the questionnaire, and the metric properties of multi-item scales were conducted. Results. Exploratory factor analyses yielded evidence for a 7-factor structure of the questionnaire, with 3 factors that may be conceptually viewed as professionals’ attitudes and behavior (providing information and education, sensitivity to patients’ changes, and emotional support) and 4 factors that conceptually reflect organizational environment (duration of attendance, interruptions during care delivery, waiting times, and patient safety). Item-scale correlations ranged from .70 to .93. The percentage of scaling success was 100% for all of the scales. Cronbach alpha coefficients ranged from .70 to .87. Intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from .57 to .80 (median=.68). Limitations. Generalization to other patients is not known. Conclusions. The questionnaire has test-retest reliability, and the scales have internal consistency and convergent and discriminant validity. All of the scales are distinct and unidimensional.