[Development and validation of a generic questionnaire for evaluating satisfaction in patients with chronic disease: the SAT-Q Questionnaire].

Objectives: To develop and validate a brief general questionnaire to assess satisfaction in patients with chronic disease.

Design: epidemiological, observational, multicentre cross-sectional study.

Location: 4 Primary Health Care Centers from the IV Health Area in the Principality of Asturias.

Subjects: A total of 202 patients diagnosed with chronic illness who were following a pharmacological regimen for at least one year.

Methods: An extensive literature review was conducted to create an initial item pool of 61 questions regarding patient satisfaction. Then, a forward-backward translation into Spanish was carried out. Next, both the expert (n=8) and patient (n=30) panels led to a new version of 34 items (concerning satisfaction with medication and satisfaction with health service). Finally, scale item reduction (item-total correlation and exploratory factorial analysis -EFA-) and psychometrical validation (feasibility, reliability and criterion validity) of the SAT-Q- were evaluated. Both the SAT-Q and the SF-12 (to assess patient health related quality of life) were applied.

Results: Item reduction analysis resulted in 18 items: general satisfaction with medication (3), adverse-events (3), oversights (2), effectiveness (3), convenience (4) and Health services (3). Internal consistency (Cronbach α) and Intraclass Correlation Coefficients were moderate-high. Moreover, significant positive correlations between SAT-Q scores and SF-12 Physical and Mental Summary Components were found (with the exception of oversights).

Conclusions: A brief questionnaire for measuring satisfaction in chronic patients has been developed and preliminary validated.

(Copyright © 2009 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.)