Validation of the “Mind the Gap” Scale to Assess Satisfaction with Health Care among Adolescents

At present, more than 90% of adolescents with chronic conditions survive into adulthood as health care users and move pediatric to adult care with their chronic illness. Therefore, the need satisfaction scale focuses specifically on transitional care and reflect the increasing expectations among youth and their parents.

To examine the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of Mind the Gap scale.

Methodological study.

The Turkish versions of Mind the Gap scale and Patient Assessment of Choronic Illness Care scale were applied to the participants in two tertiary hospitals in Ankara. The validity was evaluated with factor analyses and content-scope validity; the reliability was evaluated with item-total score correlation, internal consistency, and continuity methods.

A total of 109 adolescents and 157 parents completed the questionaire. The content validity was confirmed. Exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the factor structure of the scale. Both adolescent and parent scales formed three sub-dimensions and explained 71% and 73% of the variation, respectively. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of Mind the Gap scale 1 and Mind the Gap scale 2 were 0.89 and 0.87, respectively, with internal consistencies of the parent’s scales reaching 0.92 and 0.90. The test-retest reliability coefficients totalled 0.88 and 0.85 for the adolescents and parents, respectively. The suitability of the model was examined with confirmatory factor analysis. Conformity indices and x2/df value of the model were in good fit to data.

The Turkish version of the Mind the Gap scale is a valid and reliable scale for evaluating the needs, expectations, and satisfaction of adolescents and their parents in terms of health care.