Development and validation of a patient participation scale.

Abstract

To develop an instrument measuring patient participation in healthcare and verify the validity and reliability of the patient participation scale (PPS). A methodological study using instrument-development and instrument-verification phases. Data were collected from January to August 2021. The instrument-development phase identified preliminary items through literature reviews and interviews with 17 patients and nine healthcare providers. The instrument-verification phase surveyed 312 internal medicine patients from four tertiary general hospitals. Exploratory factor analysis was performed; Pearson correlation and Cronbach's α coefficients were checked. The PPS comprised 21 items divided into four themes: 'sharing of information and knowledge', 'performing proactive self-management activities', 'establishing mutual trust relationships' and 'partaking in the decision-making process', explaining 61.9% of the variance. The correlation coefficients for criterion-related validity was .820 (p < .001) and Cronbach's α coefficients for reliability was .92. The PPS can reasonably and reliably measure the participation levels that patients experience in their treatment and care process. This PPS can help nurses encourage internal medicine patients to participate in their treatment and care.