Interpersonal processes of care survey: patient-reported measures for diverse groups.
OBJECTIVE
To create a patient-reported, multidimensional physician/patient interpersonal processes of care (IPC) instrument appropriate for patients from diverse racial/ethnic groups that allows reliable, valid, and unbiased comparisons across these groups. DATA SOURCE/DATA COLLECTION: Data were collected by telephone interview. The survey was administered in English and Spanish to adult general medicine patients, stratified by race/ethnicity and language (African Americans, English-speaking Latinos, Spanish-speaking Latinos, non-Latino whites) (N=1,664).


METHODS
In this cross-sectional study, items were designed to be appropriate for diverse ethnic groups based on focus groups, our prior framework, literature, and cognitive interviews. Multitrait scaling and confirmatory factor analysis were used to examine measurement invariance; we identified scales that allowed meaningful quantitative comparisons across four race/ethnic/language groups.


RESULTS
The final instrument assesses several subdomains of communication, patient-centered decision making, and interpersonal style. It includes 29 items representing 12 first-order and seven second-order factors with equivalent meaning (metric invariance) across groups; 18 items (seven factors) allowed unbiased mean comparison across groups (scalar invariance). Final scales exhibited moderate to high reliability.


CONCLUSIONS
The IPC survey can be used to describe disparities in interpersonal care, predict patient outcomes, and examine outcomes of quality improvement efforts to reduce health care disparities.
Stewart
Anita L
AL
Center for Aging in Diverse Communities, Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations, Institute for Health and Aging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94118-1944, USA.
Nápoles-Springer
Anna M
AM
Gregorich
Steven E
SE
Santoyo-Olsson
Jasmine
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003142:Communication; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005194:Family Practice / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010358:Patient Participation; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000208:ethnology*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D012935:Social Justice