Development of an Arabic inpatient satisfaction survey: application in acute medical rehabilitation setting in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: In the management of chronic disease, evidence suggests that satisfied patients exhibit more loyalty to treatment providers and greater adherence to treatment regimens. This is particularly so in the rehabilitation setting. We aimed to develop a reliable and valid Arabic-language survey to objectively measure inpatient satisfaction in medical rehabilitation settings in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: The King Fahad Medical City Rehabilitation Hospital Patient Satisfaction Survey (RH PSS) is a self-administered survey that addresses four domains of rehabilitation care: access, structure, process, and outcomes. The RH PSS was developed through four steps. Step 1: An item-generation process utilizing input from patients, rehabilitation professionals, and the relevant literature. Step 2: Individual interviews and focus groups, conducted for cognitive testing of the survey and to examine content validity. Step 3: Assessment of internal consistency and construct validity. Step 4: Survey implementation wherein factor analysis and reliability and validity testing were conducted. The survey was conducted at an acute inpatient medical rehabilitation hospital in Saudi Arabia. A total of 709 rehabilitation inpatients participated. RESULTS: The RH PSS demonstrated reasonable reliability and validity. Cronbach’s alpha for all the RH PSS subscales ranged from 0.81 to 0.89, and 0.96 for the entire survey. Factor analysis showed good correlation of the 33 survey items and the subscales. The RH PSS demonstrated a good level of predictive validity through the high correlation between the global item “intent to recommend” and overall satisfaction (R2 = 0.786, adjusted R2 = 0.783, p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The RH PSS is the first satisfaction survey with reported validity and reliability testing to address inpatient rehabilitation settings in Saudi Arabia. Further research involving multiple sites is recommended for nationwide validation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-017-2596-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.