Psychometric validation of a Patient-Centred Quality of Cancer Care Questionnaire in Mexico

Abstract

Objectives

To develop and validate a Patient-Centred Quality of Cancer Care Questionnaire in Spanish (PCQCCQ-S) appropriate to the Mexican context.

Design

Psychometric validation of a questionnaire.

Setting

Two public oncology hospitals in Mexico City.

Participants

1809 patients with cancer aged ≥18 years.

Source of information

Cross-sectional survey.

Methods

The validation procedures comprised (1) content validity through a group of experts and patients; (2) item reduction and evaluation of the factor structure, through an exploratory factor analysis based on the polychoric correlation matrix; (3) internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha; (4) convergent validity between the PCQCCQ-S and supportive care needs scale; (5) correlation analysis between the PCQCCQ-S and quality of life scale by calculating Spearman’s rank-correlation coefficient; and (6) differentiation by ‘known groups’ through the Wilcoxon rank-sum test.

Results

The PCQCCQ-S has 30 items with the following five factors accounting for 96.5% of the total variance: (1) timely care; (2) clarity of the information; (3) information for treatment decision-making; (4) activities to address biopsychosocial needs; and (5) respectful and coordinated care. Cronbach’s alpha values ranged from 0.73 to 0.90 among the factors. PCQCCQ-S has moderate convergent validity with supportive care needs scale, revealing that higher quality is correlated with lower patient needs. PCQCCQ-S has acceptable ability to differentiate by ‘known groups’, showing that older patients and those with low levels of education perceived lower total quality of care as compared with their counterparts.

Conclusion

PCQCCQ-S has acceptable psychometric properties and can be used to measure quality of patient-centred cancer care in Mexico and serve as a reference to develop PCQCCQ-S in other Spanish-speaking countries.