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Published on: February 16, 2011
Development and Validation of a People-Centred Scale for Evaluating Care Pathway Experiences
Vittoria Sturlese1, Gerardo Petruzziello2, Stefano Benini1
1Clinical and Quality Management Unit, Governo Clinico, Ricerca, Formazione e Sistemi Qualità, Azienda USL di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
International Journal of Integrated Care
|May 25, 2026
Summary
A new scale was developed to measure patient experiences with care pathways (CPs) in Italy. This tool assesses person-centrality, responsiveness, integration, and organization to improve healthcare quality.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare quality assessment
- Patient experience research
- Health services research
Background:
- Care pathways (CPs) are crucial for coordinated healthcare, but patient perspectives are often overlooked.
- Italy lacks a validated tool to systematically measure patient experiences with CPs.
- Understanding patient-reported experiences is vital for improving healthcare delivery.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a scale for measuring patient-reported experiences with care pathways (CPs).
- To provide a tool for assessing the quality of CPs from a patient's viewpoint.
Main Methods:
- A mixed-method approach combining literature review, Delphi study, and focus groups for item generation.
- Pilot testing with breast cancer patients (n=218) for scale refinement.
- Quantitative validation using factor analysis on data from 12 CPs across three organizations.
Main Results:
- A four-factor structure emerged: person-centrality, responsiveness, integration, and organization.
- The scale demonstrated good internal validity and satisfactory reliability for most factors.
- External validity was supported by correlations with overall CP evaluation, satisfaction, and self-reported health.
Conclusions:
- A robust, multidimensional tool for assessing patient-reported experiences with CPs has been developed.
- Findings underscore the significance of person-centred care and integrated service delivery.
- The validated scale can enhance CP evaluation and inform healthcare policy for people-centred practices.
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