title: Development and validity of the questionnaire of patients' experiences in postacute outpatient physical therapy settings.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patient feedback surveys are increasingly seen as a key component of health care quality monitoring and improvement.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The study objective was to describe the development and initial psychometric evaluation of a fixed-length questionnaire about the experiences of patients receiving physical therapist treatment in postacute outpatient settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was an instrument development study with validity and reliability testing.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 465 participants attending 3 rehabilitation centers for musculoskeletal conditions completed the questionnaire. A cognitive pretest was applied to the draft version (n=94), and a revised version was evaluated for test-retest reliability (n=90). Analyses to evaluate variance and nonresponse rates for items, the factor structure of the questionnaire, and the metric properties of multi-item scales were conducted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Exploratory factor analyses yielded evidence for a 7-factor structure of the questionnaire, with 3 factors that may be conceptually viewed as professionals' attitudes and behavior (providing information and education, sensitivity to patients' changes, and emotional support) and 4 factors that conceptually reflect organizational environment (duration of attendance, interruptions during care delivery, waiting times, and patient safety). Item-scale correlations ranged from .70 to .93. The percentage of scaling success was 100% for all of the scales. Cronbach alpha coefficients ranged from .70 to .87. Intraclass correlation coefficients ranged from .57 to .80 (median=.68).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Generalization to other patients is not known.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The questionnaire has test-retest reliability, and the scales have internal consistency and convergent and discriminant validity. All of the scales are distinct and unidimensional.
authors.affiliation: F. Medina-Mirapeix, PT, PhD, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Medina-Mirapeix
authors.affiliation: M.E. del Baño-Aledo, PT, PhD, Central Unit of Anatomy, Catholic University of San Antonio, Campus de Los Jerónimos, s/n Guadalupe, 30107 Murcia, Spain. mbano@ucam.edu.
authors.forename: María Elena
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Del Baño-Aledo
authors.affiliation: J.J. Martínez-Payá, PT, PhD, Central Unit of Anatomy, Catholic University of San Antonio.
authors.forename: Jacinto Javier
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Martínez-Payá
authors.affiliation: M.C. Lillo-Navarro, PT, PhD, Department of Physical Therapy, Miguel Hernandez University of Elche, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: María Carmen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lillo-Navarro
authors.affiliation: P. Escolar-Reina, PT, PhD, Department of Physical Therapy, University of Murcia.
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Escolar-Reina
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011594:Psychometrics; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires