The EORTC cancer in-patient satisfaction with care questionnaire: EORTC IN-PATSAT32 Validation study for Spanish patients.

OBJECTIVES: The EORTC Quality of Life (QL) Group has developed a questionnaire (the EORTC IN-PATSAT32) to assess the satisfaction of cancer inpatients with hospitalbased care. In this study we assess the psychometric properties of the EORTC IN-PATSAT32 applied to a sample of Spanish patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty cancer patients with different tumour sites completed the EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC IN-PATSAT32 questionnaires. Psychometric evaluation of the structure, reliability and validity was conducted.

RESULTS: Multitrait scaling analysis showed that most itemscale correlation coefficients met the standards of convergent and discriminant validity. Cronbach's coefficients were good (0.77-0.97) for all scales except hospital access. Correlations between the scales and single items of the QLQ-C30 and EORTC IN-PATSAT32 were generally low. Correlations between the Oberst scales and an item on intention to recommend the hospital or ward to others with the EORTC IN-PATSAT32 were moderate. Patients with higher scores on the Oberst scales and the item on intention to recommend the hospital or ward showed higher satisfaction with care levels in all EORTC IN-PATSAT32 areas but one.

CONCLUSIONS: The EORTC IN-PATSAT32 appears to be a reliable and valid instrument when applied to a sample of Spanish cancer patients. These results are in line with those of the EORTC validation study.