Acceptability of the tuberculosis service: scale development

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Psychometrics
• Public Health

Background:

• Health workers need dependable tools to assess patient satisfaction with health services.
• Evaluating the acceptability of tuberculosis (TB) services is crucial for effective patient management and treatment adherence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a reliable, easy-to-administer attitude scale for measuring TB service acceptability.
• To confirm through factor analysis that TB service acceptability is influenced by both cognitive and affective factors.

Main Methods:

• A 13-item attitude scale was administered to 487 Black adults in South Africa (67 TB patients, 420 community members).
• Reliability was assessed using internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha).
• Factor analysis (principal components analysis with rotations) was used to identify underlying dimensions of acceptability.

Main Results:

• The scale demonstrated high internal consistency (reliability coefficient r = 0.84).
• Factor analysis revealed two key components of acceptability: an empathic dimension (Factor I) and organizational elements (Factor II).
• These two factors explained 45.4% of the variance in acceptability.

Conclusions:

• The developed 13-item scale is a reliable and practical measure for assessing TB service acceptability.
• The scale effectively captures both the affective (empathic) and cognitive (organizational) components of service acceptability.
• This tool can aid health workers in evaluating and improving TB healthcare services.