title: Development of the Consumer Assessment of Pharmacy Services survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop and test a tool for obtaining patient evaluations of the quality of pharmacy services provided in ambulatory settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive, exploratory, nonexperimental study.
  
  
  METHODS
  United States from June 1, 2006, through May 31, 2007.
  
  
  METHODS
  895 individuals who obtained prescription medications from participating pharmacies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Items were evaluated for inclusion in composite scales based on factor analysis and frequency of missing data. Standard psychometric methods were used to assess the reliability and construct validity of the resulting three composite and three global-item measures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patient assessment of the quality of ambulatory care pharmacy services.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a subset of 15 items measuring three aspects of pharmacy services (General Staff Communication, Health- and Medication-Focused Communication, and Clarity of Written Information about Medications) provided excellent fit to the data. Cronbach's alphas for these scales were greater than 0.80. The three scales and corresponding three global ratings of quality reliably described differences among providers of pharmacy services.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data provide support for the reliability and validity of the Consumer Assessment of Pharmacy Services survey. Although preliminary results regarding reliability and validity are promising, further study of the survey is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hil, NC 27599-7573, USA. s_blalock@unc.edu
authors.forename: Susan J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Blalock
authors.forename: San
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nau
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Frentzel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010593:Pharmaceutical Services / Q000592:standards; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States