Development and validation of a patient participation scale

Aims: To develop an instrument measuring patient participation in healthcare and verify the validity and reliability of the patient participation scale (PPS). Design: A methodological study using instrument-development and instrument-verification phases. Methods: Data were collected from January to August 2021. The instrument-development phase identified preliminary items through literature reviews and interviews with 17 patients and nine healthcare providers. The instrument-verification phase surveyed 312 internal medicine patients from four tertiary general hospitals. Exploratory factor analysis was performed; Pearson correlation and Cronbach's α coefficients were checked. Results: The PPS comprised 21 items divided into four themes: ‘sharing of information and knowledge’, ‘performing proactive self-management activities’, ‘establishing mutual trust relationships’ and ‘partaking in the decision-making process’, explaining 61.9% of the variance. The correlation coefficients for criterion-related validity was.820 (p <.001) and Cronbach's α coefficients for reliability was.92. Conclusion: The PPS can reasonably and reliably measure the participation levels that patients experience in their treatment and care process. Impact: This PPS can help nurses encourage internal medicine patients to participate in their treatment and care.