Abstract
Our aim is to culturally adapt the first section of the Patient Continuity of Care Questionnaire (PCCQ) for use among older Italian patients with chronic diseases and to test its psychometric properties. The PCCQ was translated, adapted to the Italian context, and completed by 236 older inpatients with chronic diseases at the point of discharge through a cross-sectional multi-centre validation study. Face and content validity were assessed. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with Mplus MLr estimator was conducted. Internal consistency was analysed through Cronbach’s alpha and factor score determinacy coefficients. The overall content validity index of the 15-item Italian version of the questionnaire was 0.9. The EFA revealed a four-factor model yielding adequate fit indices. The factor score determinacy coefficients ranged from 0.87 to 0.94. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from 0.71 to 0.86 showing good reliability. The study provides health professionals with an instrument with adequate psychometric properties to assess patients’ perception of the information received before hospital discharge.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the patients who participated in the study, and the nursing staff of the hospital units involved. We thank especially Professor Heather Hadjistavropoulos for the authorization to use the questionnaire and the feedback provided during the Italian adaptation. We are also grateful to Dr. Giuseppe Aleo and Dr. Maria Teresa Mandolfo for help in the translations and to Anita Abastanotti, Emilia dell’Unto, Francesca Verducci, Martina Batino, Valentina Petrellese, Tiziana Cerbone, and Andrea Antimo Mariniello for their valuable help in data collection.
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This study did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
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GF contributed to conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft preparation, and interpretation of data. MP was involved in software, analysis, and validation. DA contributed to data curation and writing—original draft preparation. VA was involved in visualization and investigation. BA and AM contributed to writing—reviewing and editing. SM was involved in supervision. MGM contributed to conceptualization and supervision. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The Ethical Committee of the leading University Hospital involved granted its approval before the start (protocol number 10/16 OSS ComEt CBM). The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration.
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Potential participants were informed that participation would be voluntary. Moreover, they were informed that data analysis and reporting would guarantee confidentiality, and nobody could identify individual participants from the reports. Research assistants approached eligible patients, informed them about the study, and registered their written consent before data collection.
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Facchinetti, G., Piredda, M., Ausili, D. et al. Information before discharge in geriatric patients in Italy: cultural adaptation and validation of the Patient Continuity of Care Questionnaire. Eur J Ageing 18, 99–107 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-020-00576-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-020-00576-5