Development and initial psychometric evaluation of the Patient Perspective of Arrhythmia Questionnaire

There are no disease-specific questionnaires to measure patient sensitive outcomes in arrhythmia patients. We report the development and preliminary psychometric testing of the Patient Perception of Arrhythmia Questionnaire (PPAQ). The PPAQ was developed using formative research, exploratory factor analysis, expert review, pilot study, and regression. The PPAQ measures frequency and duration of episodes, symptoms, impact on daily activities, and restricted activity days. After preliminary content validation, the sensitivity of the PPAQ was tested in 103 arrhythmia patients. The measures showed good sensitivity and reliability. Preliminary construct validation was supported by significant differences (p < .001) among groups of arrhythmia patients consistent with clinical patterns. Preliminary evidence from patients with supraventricular arrhythmias suggests that the questionnaire has acceptable psychometrics and could be useful in future studies of arrhythmia patients.