title: Analysis of the construct of dignity and content validity of the patient dignity inventory.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Maintaining dignity, the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect, is considered as a goal of palliative care. The aim of this study was to analyse the construct of personal dignity and to assess the content validity of the Patient Dignity Inventory (PDI) in people with an advance directive in the Netherlands.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected within the framework of an advance directives cohort study. This cohort study is aiming to get a better insight into how decisions are made at the end of life with regard to advance directives in the Netherlands. One half of the cohort (n = 2404) received an open-ended question concerning factors relevant to dignity. Content labels were assigned to issues mentioned in the responses to the open-ended question. The other half of the cohort (n = 2537) received a written questionnaire including the PDI. The relevance and comprehensiveness of the PDI items were assessed with the COSMIN checklist ('COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health status Measurement INstruments').
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of the PDI items were found to be relevant for the construct to be measured, the study population, and the purpose of the study but the items were not completely comprehensive. The responses to the open-ended question indicated that communication and care-related aspects were also important for dignity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated that the PDI items were relevant for people with an advance directive in the Netherlands. The comprehensiveness of the items can be improved by including items concerning communication and care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public and Occupational Health and the EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Van de Boechorststraat 7, 1081BT, The Netherlands. g.albers@vumc.nl
authors.forename: Gwenda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Albers
authors.forename: H Roeline W
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Pasman
authors.forename: Mette L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Rurup
authors.forename: Henrica C W
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: de Vet
authors.forename: Bregje D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Onwuteaka-Philipsen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016223:Advance Directives / Q000941:ethics* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003657:Decision Making / Q000941:ethics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000941:ethics*; D057240:Patient Preference / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012297:Right to Die / Q000941:ethics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult