The Reliability and Test-Retest Stability of the Treatment Perception Questionnaire (TPQ) in the Oncology Field: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background: Patients' satisfaction is an indicator of technical, instrumental, environmental, and interpersonal aspects of care. It shows how much the health service “as a whole organization” meets the patients’ psychosocial expectations and if the health professionals combine their technical competence with relational skills. The Treatment Perception Questionnaire (TPQ) is a brief instrument developed in the United Kingdom for research with substance abuse disorder populations. The present study aimed at evaluating the reliability and test-retest stability of the TPQ Italian translation in a sample of patients with solid and blood cancers. Methods: The TPQ was administered to 263 people with solid and blood cancers. Test-retest reliability was evaluated in a subgroup of 116 participants who completed the TPQ again after 3 months. Results: The reliability of TPQ was good. Cronbach’s alpha: 0.83 (95%CI: 0.79-0.86), 0.66 (0.59-0.72), 0.71 (0.65-0.769), respectively, in the total test, and in subscales on “staff perception”, and “program perception”. Test-retest reliability was 0.82 (0.77-0.87). The mean difference between the first and the second assessment was 1.0 (SD = 7.1; 95% CI -0.35 to 2.33). By plotting the differences and the means of the two assessments, 5/116 cases (4.3%) were outside the upper and lower limits of agreement. Conclusions: This study points out good reliability and test-retest stability of the TPQ in the oncology field. The TPQ can be used to assess variation over time about satisfaction with care in patients with oncological diseases, favoring the identification of unmet patients’ needs about the quality of the service.

An Overview of the International Literature on Health-Related Quality of Life, Mental Health and Psychosocial Issues in People with Cancer

“…Furthermore, this Special Issue includes some research studies aimed to point out the usefulness of a validated instrument to assess satisfaction with care in oncology and psycho-oncology [ 24 ], as well as of the implications of the self-reinforcing feedback loop to improve fatigue, insomnia and depression in people with cancer [ 49 ]. Other two studies evaluate, respectively, the attributable burden in worsening HRQoL in people suffering both from cancer and depression [ 12 ] and the Type D personality as a risk factor for stress-related difficulties in women with breast cancer [ 9 ].…”

“…Satisfaction with care is another topic which can be improved in people suffering from cancer [ 24 - 27 ]. Satisfaction with care may partly reflect matching of psychosocial expectations and needs of the patients with cancer, and the health professional capacity for meeting these needs, by empathy and interest for the patients [ 26 ].…”