Introduction: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a nonsurgical procedure used in the treatment of coronary heart disease.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to validate a scale created in order to assess the importance and fulfillment of information needs in patients after PCI.
Methods: A 10-item scale was created by the researchers to explore the level of information needs and the level of fulfillment of these needs. The total scores have a possible range of 10 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher importance and fulfillment. The validation of the questionnaire included face and content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, repeatability, and discriminant validity.
Results: Forty patients contributed to this validation. Mean and median scores for each question separately and also overall scores suggest that patients consider the need to be informed very important and that it was fulfilled to a very high degree (mean scores 39.5 and 39.3, respectively). All questions were found to be significantly correlated with the overall scores (rho > 0.3) meaning strong construct validity. Cronbach's α coefficients were high (>0.7) indicating great consistency. Both total scores had great repeatability, which suggests a high degree of reliability of the participants' responses (ICCs > 0.8). Regarding discriminant validity, a statistically significant association was observed only between marital status and the degree of fulfillment of the need to be informed (p = 0.036). More specifically, divorced or widowed patients had a lower degree of fulfillment than married patients (mean 38.6 vs. 39.6).
Conclusion: It is a reliable instrument that will help clinicians who are at close contact with patients after PCI to gain a better understanding of their needs.
Keywords: heart failure; patient needs; validation.
Copyright © 2021, Tsoulou et al.