title: Assessment of primary care in health surveys: a population perspective.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The objective of this study was to evaluate the metric properties of a selection of items of the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT) included into 2006 Catalonia Health Survey and adapted to evaluate experiences of primary care (PC) under population perspective.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional study. The study population was composed of non-institutionalized residents of Catalonia over 15 years of age (n = 12,933). The instrument used was a 10-item selection of the adult user's version of the PCAT (PCAT10-AE). We assessed internal consistency, correlation between items and performed exploratory factor analysis and external validity analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The instrument presented adequate internal consistency (0.72). All items showed acceptable correlation with other items that constitute the scale. The single extracted factor explained 64% of the common variance in the responses, allowing the construction of a global index for evaluation of PC. We observed an association between better evaluation of PC and more satisfaction with the health system.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Metric analysis supported the integrity and general adequacy of this very short tool included in a population health survey. The global index proposed could be a good measure for assessing and monitoring the adequacy of part of the PC experiences in first-contact care and person-focused care over time, under population perspective. On the other hand, the loss of content as a consequence of the selection of items, suggesting use of the expanded versions of the PCAT-AE whenever a global evaluation of PC is desired and it is possible.
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, Spain. krocha@aspb.cat
authors.forename: Kátia B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: Maica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Sanz
authors.forename: M Isabel
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Pasarín
authors.forename: Silvina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berra
authors.forename: Mercè
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gotsens
authors.forename: Carme
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borrell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care; D013030:Spain; D055815:Young Adult