Development of the Persian patient satisfaction questionnaire.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to explore the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the patient satisfaction questionnaire (PVPSQ). The study addressed the communication skills section of the PSQ specifically.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015 to determine the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the patient satisfaction questionnaire (PSQ). In total, 538 patients (ten in pilot, 488 in tests, 40 in retest), 14 experts and 198 residents participated. The items' impact score, content validity index, and content validity ratio were calculated. Construct validity and reliability of the scale were examined with exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach's α, and the Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), respectively.

FINDINGS: The questionnaire demonstrated a content validity index=0.94, content validity ratio=0.84, impact score=4.61, Cronbach's α=0.93 and ICC=0.513 ( p<0.00). A single factor was found in the eigenvalue distribution of the PSQ that predicted approximately 93 percent of the variance.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The results of this study will permit researchers in all Persian-speaking countries to use a valid and reliable Persian version of the PSQ to evaluate patients' satisfaction with residents' communication skills.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: There were a few Persian questionnaires to assess patient satisfaction with physicians' communication skills, but their psychometric properties had not been reported until the time of this study. By using the PVPSQ, both researchers at Iranian universities of medical sciences and researchers in other Persian-speaking countries can assess residents' communication skills from the patient's perspective more reliably.