A preliminary application of the Chinese-revised patient confidence in communication scale among community populations in Shanghai, China

Objective: To examine the reliability and validity of the Chinese-revised patient confidence in communication scale (PCCS) to probe its applicability in China, and then to test the score of PCCS and analyze its influential factors among a community population in Shanghai. Methods: Self-made questionnaires that contained Chinese-revised PCCS, 7-dimension life attitude-habit scales as well as questions collecting personal basic information were introduced into a household survey conducted in 260 residents in a community in Shanghai, China from Mar., to Sep., 2013. Reliability and validity test was conducted based on the data collected, and multifactor regression and relevant analysis wereintroduced to explore the influential factors of PCCS scores. Results: We obtained 254 valid questionnaires. The Cronbach's α coefficient of Chinese-revised PCCS was 0.835 and the spilt-half coefficient was 0.839. Exploratory factor analysis was introduced to test construct validity and defined one factor with eigenvalue >1, which explained 55.28% variance. The scores of sub-items were significantly correlated with the total score, with the correlation coefficients coefficients ranking from 0.643 to 0.767. Valid questionnaires of 254 residents had an average PCCS score of 3.76.Living condition (live alone or not) and education level exerted main influence on the PCCS score (P<0.01). Besides, life satisfaction, interpersonal relationship, life optimism, health information acceptability and health information orientation were also positively correlated to the PCCS score (P<0.01). Conclusions: The Chinese-revised PCCS indicated good reliability and validity. PCCS score was relevant to many characters such as living condition, educational level and personal life attitude and habits.