Development and validation of a patient experience assessment questionnaire for evaluating hospital care in Iran

Understanding patient experience is crucial for advancing patient-centered care and improving hospital service quality. This study aimed to design and validate a Persian version of a patient experience assessment questionnaire to evaluate hospital services.

This descriptive-analytical study on tool development was conducted cross-sectionally during 2021-2022 in Iran. The study consisted of two stages: (1) In the first stage, a deductive approach and comprehensive literature review were employed to develop the initial questionnaire items, based on the framework from prior research titled "Developing a Model for Evaluating Patient Experience in Teaching Hospitals in Iran." (2) In the second stage, validation was carried out by assessing face validity, content validity (using expert panels to evaluate the Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR)), and construct validity through confirmatory factor analysis. Sampling for the face validity stage included 30 randomly selected patients, while construct validity was assessed with a sample of 340 participants, of which 300 provided complete and valid data. Reliability was determined using internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and stability (intra-cluster correlation coefficient) measures.

The initial questionnaire comprised 44 items. Following expert reviews and validation processes, 10 items were removed, resulting in a final version with 33 items. The confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the five-dimensional structure, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.97 and an intra-cluster correlation coefficient of 0.89, indicating strong internal consistency and reliability.

This study successfully developed and validated a 33-item questionnaire for assessing patient experience in Iranian hospitals, ensuring cultural relevance and robust psychometric properties.