Developing a patient satisfaction questionnaire for services provided in Iranian community pharmacies

OBJECTIVE: To develop a valid and reliable instrument in the Persian language for evaluating patient satisfaction with services provided in community pharmacies. METHODS: We selected a valid and reliable instrument from the literature and translated it to the Persian language. Some new items were added to the first draft based on the special characteristics of the Iranian health system. Then, the feasibility of utilizing the new instrument was assessed. In the third step, we conducted a formal content validity study to calculate content validity indices. Having completed the content validity study, the factorial structure of new instruments was determined by implementing a factorial analysis. Finally, the reliability of the instrument was assessed by assessment of Cronbach's alpha coefficient and test-retest reliability. FINDINGS: The developed instrument demonstrated suitable validity and reliability. The final instrument showed desirable content validity, with inter-rater agreement of 94% and 97% for relevance and clarity, respectively. Scale content validity indices for relevance and clarity were calculated as 96% and 92%, respectively, and comprehensiveness was calculated as 100%. Factor analysis resulted in seven factors with a cumulative variance of 62.14%. In internal consistency reliability, Cronbach's alpha for the whole instrument was 0.912. About test-retest reliability, six items showed almost perfect agreement, 18 items showed substantial agreement, and three items showed moderate agreement. Therefore, test-retest reliability assessment too demonstrated appropriate results. CONCLUSION: The instrument demonstrated excellent validity and reliability for application in Iran. This instrument is useful for evaluating patient satisfaction with services provided in community pharmacies in the Persian-speaking communities.