Development and Validation of a Culturally Adapted Patient-Reported Experience Measure for Diabetes Care in Thailand:...

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Patient Experience Measurement
• Diabetes Management

Background:

• Patient-centred care is crucial for Type 2 diabetes management, requiring understanding of patient perspectives.
• No culturally adapted patient-reported experience measure (PREM) exists for Thai patients with Type 2 diabetes.
• Existing measures do not capture specific cultural nuances of diabetes care in Thailand.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a culturally adapted PREM for Thai people with Type 2 diabetes in primary care.
• To create a reliable instrument for assessing patient experiences in diabetes management.
• To support quality improvement initiatives in Thai diabetes care.

Main Methods:

• Mixed-methods approach combining qualitative and quantitative data.
• Scoping review to inform initial item generation.
• Expert review for content validity and patient interviews for face validity.
• Factor analysis (exploratory and confirmatory) for construct validity and reliability assessment.

Main Results:

• An initial 37-item PREM was refined based on expert and patient feedback.
• The final validated PREM consists of 16 items across four domains: care planning, patient education, professionalism, and quality of service.
• The final instrument explained 60.1% of variance and showed strong internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.84).

Conclusions:

• The study successfully developed the first culturally adapted PREM for Thai individuals with Type 2 diabetes.
• The validated PREM is suitable for capturing patient experiences in the Thai healthcare context.
• This tool can facilitate patient-centred care in Thailand and other LMICs in Southeast Asia.