Abstract
Objectives: In the last few years the questionnaire ZUF-8 received increasing approval as screening-test for the measurement of patients’ satisfaction. Main intention of this article is the psychometrical evaluation by means of a large sample and the identification of relevant cut-offs.
Methods: A sample of more than 50000 patients, which was collected within a routine monitoring of eleven clinics for rehabilitation and a smaller sample deriving from a program evaluation study, could be evaluated. The questionnaire was analysed based on scale, item and factor analysis. For validation, demographic variables, quality-ratings and standardized assessment methods, which are often used in designs of rehabilitation research (e.g. SCL-90-R, IIP-D, FLZ, SF-36), were available. Finally ROC analyses were performed with two different criteria to recognize specificity and sensitivity of possible cut-offs.
Results: The ZUF-8 could be validated as one-dimensional and reliable scale (Cronbach's α=0.90). The questionnaire has sufficient validity as regards to both detailed quality measurement of the service and treatments’ results. The ROC analysis investigated critical cut-offs for both criteria in each case for all medical fields involved. Moreover the relationship between doctor/therapist and patient could be identified as basic element of patient's satisfaction.
Conclusions: The psychometric properties of the ZUF-8 could be replicated convincingly and could be extended by reason of relevant cut-offs’ ascertainment. The ZUF-8 is an extremely economic screening questionnaire for patients’ appraisal of actual state of satisfaction, which is of high importance regarding to competition and quality.
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