Satisfaction with care in oncology outpatient clinics: Psychometric characteristics of the Icelandic EORTC IN-PATSAT32 version

Aim and objectives: To assess the psychometric characteristics of the Icelandic European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer IN-PATSAT32 (EORTC IN-PATSAT32) version and to compare satisfaction with care between gender and different age groups. Background: The majority of patients with cancer receive either chemotherapy or radiotherapy on an outpatient basis. There is a need to evaluate satisfaction with care and service for these patients using reliable and valid instruments. Design: Cross-sectional comparative study. Method: Participants (n = 217) who received treatment for cancer as outpatients answered the EORTC IN-PATSAT32 questionnaire. Participants were 22-91 years old and 57% of them were female. Results: Overall high satisfaction was found with communication, information and care that patients receive from doctors and nurses. Principal component analysis extracted four factors: 'satisfaction with nurses' conduct', 'satisfaction with doctors' conduct', 'satisfaction with information' and 'satisfaction with service and care organisation'. Patients were most satisfied with nurses' conduct but least satisfied with service and care organisation. Cronbach's alpha for the four factors ranged from 0·95-0·67. Conclusion: Although the validity of this instrument including its sensitivity to patients' level of dissatisfaction as well as satisfaction with care and service was evident, this needs to be further explored in future studies. The psychometric strengths of the EORTC IN-PATSAT32 are its internal consistency and its construct validity, but there are several issues indicating a need to change and develop the instrument and specifically adopting it to outpatient care. Relevance to clinical practice: Outpatient treatment options offered to cancer patients have increased, and this calls for knowledge of their satisfaction with care and service. Sparse studies are available, and there is a need for further development of reliable instruments. Our study indicates that outpatients with cancer are quite satisfied with the care they receive. Findings may contribute to improvement in outpatients' clinics that provide treatment to patients with cancer.