[Development and validation of a questionnaire measuring hospital consumer satisfaction ]

This study describes the process of development of a new instrument for measuring patient satisfaction with hospital care in Italy. The self-administered questionnaire included a total of 48 items, -contributing to the construction of 8 scales, each of them describing a specific area of interest such as medical care and nursing, several aspects of organisation, comfort and overall outcome of care. Psychometric characteristics of the questionnaire were in terms of acceptability, validity, reliability and the ability to discriminate different levels of satisfaction in various patient groups. Psychometric analyses resulted in a convincing construct validity and reliability, as described by the Cronbach Alpha coefficient estimates [range 0.73-0.95]. The high compliance obtained (67.3%) can be considered a sign of good acceptability of the questionnaire and of its mode of administration. These analyses demonstrate a good performance of the questionnaire in terms of both validity and reliability, suggesting that this instrument can represent a solid base for future applications.