Validation of “the patient evaluation of emotional care during hospitalisation” questionnaire in intensive care unit patients

OBJECTIVE: To validate the “Patient Evaluation of Emotional Care During Hospitalization” (PEECH) questionnaire, which assesses hospitalised patients’ emotional experiences, in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). INTERVENTIONS: Prospective study. The PEECH consists of three sections and four sub-scales: “level of security”, “level of knowing”, “level of personal value”, and “level of connection”. The questionnaire was completed by 253 hospitalised patients. Expert judgement was used to analyse the content validity and factor analysis was performed to confirm construct validity. Cronbach’s alpha was used to measure the internal consistency of the four sub-scales. RESULTS: In the confirmatory factor analysis of the four sub-scales, the weights of all questions were found to be significant (>1). The internal consistency of the PEECH questionnaire was 0.86 (Cronbach’s alpha) and the homogeneity index was high (>0.50). CONCLUSION: The PEECH questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool to evaluate the perception of emotional care in ICU patients. The information gathered can help provide more comprehensive care for patients in the ICU and in other hospitalised patients.