[The patient experiences questionnaire PasOpp in somatic outpatient clinics].

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and evaluation of the patient experiences questionnaire (PEQ) for somatic outpatients.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Literature review, focus groups, interviews with patients and clinicians, and pre-testing of questionnaire items were used. A postal survey among 12,525 patients of 23 outpatient clinics for adults in two Norwegian health regions was conducted during 2003.

RESULTS

6824 (55%) patients responded to the questionnaire. Low levels of missing data suggest that the questionnaire is acceptable to patients. Factor analysis of items deemed applicable to all patients produced three scales: clinic access (2 items), communication (6 items) and organisation (4 items). The remaining items contributed to the hypothesised scales of information (6 items), hospital standards (3 items), and pre-visit experience (3 items). With the exception of the pre-visit experience scale, the levels of Cronbach's alpha met the criterion of 0.7. The great majority of the results of validity testing were as hypothesised. Correlations between the scales ranged from 0.30 (clinic access and information) to 0.72 (communication and information). As hypothesised, scores were significantly related to responses to questions about overall satisfaction, general health, and age.

INTERPRETATION

The outpatient experience questionnaire is a self-administered instrument that includes the most important aspects of experience from the outpatients' perspective. Three core dimensions for use in a shortened version have been identified.