Development and preliminary psychometric investigation of the German Satisfaction with Comprehensive Cancer Care (SCCC) Questionnaire

Peter Esser,Michael Friedrich,Uwe Koch,Susanne Sarkar,Gautier Defossez,Georgia Schilling,Leon Sautier,Carsten Bokemeyer,Anja Mehnert-Theuerkauf

doi:10.1186/s12955-021-01784-y

Abstract

PurposeThe assessment of patient satisfaction during treatment is essential to provide patient-centered high-quality cancer care. Nevertheless, no German instrument assesses patient satisfaction with comprehensive cancer care, which not only includes oncological treatment, but also interpersonal quality of care as well as psychosocial support services. Based on the French REPERES-60, we developed the German Patient Satisfaction with Comprehensive Cancer Care (SCCC) questionnaire.MethodsThe REPERES-60 was translated and the items were adapted to make it applicable to the German healthcare system and across different tumor entities. Scales of the resulting instrument were extracted via principal axis factoring (PAF). Subsequently, we investigated the reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha, CA), discriminatory power (corrected item-scale correlations) and convergent validity (pre-specified correlations of the SCCC with different outcomes).ResultsThe SCCC consisted of 32 items which were subsequently tested among a sample of 333 patients across different tumor entities (response rate: 47%). Average age was 59 years (standard deviation: 14), 63% were male. PAF revealed four multi-item scales named Competence, Information, Access and Support accounting for 71% of the variance. Two single-items scales assess global satisfaction with medical and psychosocial care, respectively. CA across the multi-item scales ranged from .84 to .96. Discriminatory power was sufficiently high, with all r ≥ .5. Convergent validity was largely verified by negative associations of the four multi-item scales with depressive/anxious symptomatology (r ≥ − .18, p < .01) and fatigue/overall symptom burden (r ≥ − .14, p < .01).ConclusionWe developed a tool to assess patient satisfaction with comprehensive cancer care in Germany. The SCCC showed satisfactory psychometric properties. Further studies are needed to verify these preliminary findings.

Highlights

The patient perspective during oncological treatment is considered essential to provide patient-centered high quality cancer care [1]
What is the problem? The assessment of patient satisfaction during their oncological treatment is important for oncological staff and health care institutions to optimize the care they provide
German instruments on patient satisfaction rather focus on the medical treatment of the disease

Summary

Introduction

The patient perspective during oncological treatment is considered essential to provide patient-centered high quality cancer care [1]. Existing instruments on patient satisfaction with cancer care considerably vary in their scope and length [4,5,6,7,8,9]. One of the most widely used instruments is the 32-item In-Patient Satisfaction with Care (IN-PATSAT-32) questionnaire [8], which assesses satisfaction of inpatients with respect to doctors, nurses and the organization within the hospital. The detailed 120-item Patient Satisfaction and Quality of life in Oncological Care (PASQOC) questionnaire [6] in turn focuses on outpatient cancer care and assesses multiple aspects such as treatment environment. The 16-item Family Satisfaction with Advanced Cancer Care-Patient Version (FAMCARE-P) questionnaire [9] was developed for use in palliative care and addresses specific issues within the palliative setting such as inclusion of the family members into medical decisions or information about the prognosis

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion