Research

Validation of a patient satisfaction questionnaire for anemia treatment, the PSQ-An

Robert J Nordyke^1,2 , Chih-Hung Chang³ , Chiun-Fang Chiou¹ , Joel F Wallace⁴ , Bin Yao⁴ and Lee S Schwartzberg⁵

¹  Cerner Health Insights, 9100 Wilshire Blvd. Ste. 655E, Beverly Hills, CA 90290, USA

²  UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA

³  Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

⁴  Amgen, Thousand Oaks, CA, USA

⁵  The West Clinic, Memphis, TN, USA

author email corresponding author email

Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 2006, 4:28doi:10.1186/1477-7525-4-28

Published:	3 May 2006

Abstract

Background

Treating anemia associated with chemotherapy and many cancers is often necessary. However, patient satisfaction with anemia treatment is limited by the lack of validated instruments. We developed and validated a new treatment-specific patient satisfaction instrument: the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire for Anemia Treatment (PSQ-An). Treatment burden and overall satisfaction scales were designed for ease of use in clinical practice.

Methods

312 cancer patients (141 breast, 69 gynecological, and 102 non-small cell lung) were targeted to complete the PSQ-An at 4 week intervals. Data from weeks 5 and 9 were analyzed. Patients also completed the MOS SF-36 Global Health assessment and questions concerning resources devoted to anemia treatment. Item reduction used endorsement rates, floor/ceiling effects, and item-item correlations. Factor analysis identified meaningful subscales. Test-retest reliability was assessed. Construct validity was tested, using Pearson's correlations, by comparing subscale scores to Global Health, hemoglobin levels, and resources devoted to anemia treatment.

Results

The overall response rate was 92.9% (264/284) at week 5. Most (84.2%) of the patients were female, and the mean (SD) age was 60.2 (± 11.8) years. Two distinct subscales were identified measuring treatment burden (7 items) and overall satisfaction (2 items). Test-retest reliability was examined (ICC: 0.45–0.67); both were internally consistent (alpha = 0.83). Both subscales exhibited convergent and divergent validity with independent measures of health. ANOVA results indicated that the PSQ-An Satisfaction subscale discriminated between 5 levels of MOS SF-36 Global Health (P = 0.006).

Conclusion

The PSQ-An is a validated, treatment-specific instrument for measuring satisfaction with anemia treatment for cancer patients. PSQ-An subscales reflect the burden of injection anemia treatment on cancer patients and their assessment of the overall treatment value.