Development of an instrument to measure face validity, feasibility and utility of patient questionnaire use during health care: the QQ-10

To develop and establish the psychometric properties of an instrument to measure face validity, feasibility and utility of patient questionnaires used during health care. Our instrument, QQ-10, is a 10-item self-completed questionnaire, which was developed during the evaluation of another questionnaire (ePAQ-PF), to assess patients views on questionnaire use during health care. Urogynaecology Department, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield, UK. The Sheffield maternity patient user group identified 10 key themes relating to patients views on using questionnaires; these themes translated into 10 statements, each using the same 5-point Likert response scale. Not applicable. Principal component analysis established the factor structure of our instrument. Internal reliability was assessed using Cronbachs alpha. Construct validity was assessed using Spearmans rho. Factor analysis yielded two meaningful factors: Value and Burden, both achieving Cronbachs alpha scores 0.7. Significant correlations were found between scores for Value and communication experience and between scores for Burden and barriers to health care. Our instrument offers a valid, reliable measure of patients views relating to value and burden of using health-related quality of life questionnaires. Its two domains show good internal reliability and with its free text items, it may offer a valuable, standardized assessment of face validity and utility of other questionnaires used in health care.