Testing a New Tool Assessing Attitude Towards Treatment and Health in Primary Health Care Setting: Senior Patients and Doctors Perspectives.

AIMS: Patients' attitude towards treatment and health (ATH) is crucial for compliance at all stages of treatment. This study examined the psychometric properties of the developed PRACTA Attitude Towards Treatment and Health questionnaire, designed to measure ATH as perceived by seniors (PRACTA-ATH) and doctors (PRACTA-ATH-D) in primary health care.

METHODS: The data were collected in two waves of the Polish-Norwegian PRACTA project. Exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) were conducted on wave 1 data from senior patients ( n = 3392) and their general practitioners ( n = 491). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were conducted on wave 2 data. This was a new sample of senior patients ( n = 2765) and a follow-up sample of doctors ( n = 393).

RESULTS: The EFAs showed that the 16-item four-factor solution is the best solution reflecting the structure of both seniors and doctors' ATH questionnaires. The CFAs conducted to establish the best unified model for PRACTA-ATH and PRACTA-ATH-D indicated three comparatively good solutions: the 16-item four-factor solution, the 12-item four-factor solution and the 12-item five-factor solution.

CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire is found appropriate for use among patients and doctors, and can be used as a good tool to monitor older patients' ATH and concordance between doctors and patients' perspectives.