Development and Psychometric Properties of a New Tool to Assess Justification and Practice of Patient Rights (JPPR)

Abstract

Purpose: To develop a valid and reliable tool for the evaluation of patients' rights. Methods: This study was done in 2011 at outpatient centers of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. At first, the concepts of patient's rights were defined. Having reviewed the literature, the tool's dimensions and items were specified which was followed by doing tool's psychometry. Face validity (upon opinion of the specialists and calculating the grade of item), content validity (upon the opinion of specialists, calculating the ratio of content validity and content validity index) and construct validity (exploratory factors analysis) were used for studying validity. The reliability of it was calculated via Cronbach's alpha. Results: At first, the tool's dimensions and items were defined and the preliminary tool was designed, the patients' and specialists' opinions were exerted at different stages of designing and psychrometric evaluation of the tool. Grade of item was ≥1.5, the ratio of content validity was ≥0.49 and content validity index for any item was ≥0.79. The internal consistency was 0.97 having computed the Cronbach's alpha coefficient and the Cronbach's alpha's coefficient was 0.97, 0.84, 0.96 and 0.62 for four factors of “right to choose, education and confidentiality”, “providing services”, “accountability and complaints handling” and “facilitating services” respectively. Conclusion: The tool for assessing the justification and practice of patient rights(JPPR) with 4 subscales and 30 items could be used as a valid and reliable tool for evaluation of patients' rights.