Patient satisfaction with anesthesia care in Taiwan: Development and validation of a pilot version of a psychometric questionnaire

Background: To date, no pilot questionnaire of perioperative anesthetic care has been developed based on psychometric methodology in Taiwan. We describe the development and qualitative and quantitative validation of a pilot version of a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure patient satisfaction with perioperative anesthetic care in Taiwan. Methods: A rigorous protocol was followed and involved expert consultation, literature review, development of the interview guide, semi-structured in-depth interviews, pretest and application of Aiken's two quantitative methods to determine the content validity coefficient (V value) and homogeneity reliability coefficient (H value) of each item, and the questionnaire as a whole, to ensure the pilot questionnaire showed high-content validity and reliable homogeneity. Results: Our final pilot questionnaire contained six dimensions with 32 items; five of the domains were similar to those reported in the literature. One dimension entitled anesthesia-related sequelae was new. The V values for the 32 items ranged from 0.80 to 0.97 (p<0.01) and the mean value (V̄) of the questionnaire as a whole was 0.90 (p<0.01). The H values ranged from 0.55 to 0.88 (p<0.01) and the mean H value (H̄) of the questionnaire as a whole was 0.71 (p<0.01). Conclusion: We have developed a valid and reliable pilot questionnaire to measure patient satisfaction with perioperative anesthetic care in Taiwan. The final version of the pilot questionnaire is a 32-item instrument with six dimensions, one of which, anesthesia-related sequelae, is new.