Abstract
The development of the Primary Care Patient Request Scale and factor analytic and validation data from four diverse clinic samples are reported. The factor analysis yielded five plausible request dimensions: Treatment of Psychosocial Problems, Medical Explanation, Supportive Communication, Test Results, and Ventilation and Legitimation. The construct validity of the instrument was tentatively supported by the ability of the factor scales to discriminate consistently among the nature of the presenting complaint, the type of primary care clinic, and the marital status of the patient. Establishment of the clinical and research utility of the Primary Care Patient Request Scale awaits further efforts at cross-validation.
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This research was funded by a California Policy Award from the Department of Governmental Studies, University of California, Berkeley, and by National Institute of Mental Health Grant 16463.
The authors wish to thank researchers Diane Stumbo, Sandra Gifford, and James Cooper for their assistance in data collection, Dr. Steve Abramowitz for critical comments on an early draft of this article, and the patients and physicians for their generous participation.
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DelVecchio Good, M.J., Good, B.J. & Nassi, A.J. Patient requests in primary health care settings: Development and validation of a research instrument. J Behav Med 6, 151–168 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00845378
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00845378