Satisfaction Scale for Community Nursing: development and validation.
OBJECTIVE
This study is a report of the development and testing of the Satisfaction Scale for Community Nursing for measuring patient satisfaction with community nursing.


BACKGROUND
Measuring patient satisfaction with a psychometrically sound instrument is important if patient judgment is used as a quality indicator to evaluate the quality of the service.


METHODS
Service users and providers participated in generating items for a questionnaire related to the concept of patient satisfaction. A convenient sample of 121 patients receiving care from the Community Nursing Service was recruited to pilot the questionnaire for its initial validation in 2005. Content validity and factor analysis of the draft questionnaire were assessed. Psychometric properties of the final questionnaire were assessed using data from 80 patients in a validation study conducted during 2006.


RESULTS
A 17-item satisfaction questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale measuring three quality domains was developed: technical competence, coordination of services and interpersonal relationships in community nursing. Cronbach's alpha was 0.90. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation yielded three factors with eigenvalues >1; these accounted for 76.6% of the total variance. The factor loadings of the items ranged from >0.64 to 0.84. The concurrent validity of the scale associated with two conceptually related variables was 0.61 (P < 0.05) and 0.66 (P < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The questionnaire may be valuable for assessing the satisfaction level of clients with community nursing service in meeting their expectations, and thus for enhancing treatment adherence and improving the quality of care.
Cheng
Winnie Lai Sheung
WL
School of Nursing, Caritas Medical Centre, Kowloon, Hong Kong. wlscheng@yahoo.com
Lai
Claudia Kam Yuk
CK
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult