Adaptation of the Quality of Communication Questionnaire for Family Members and Its Validity Evidence for Use in Brazil

Abstract

Assessment of communication between physicians and patients’ family members is essential to improving healthcare quality. To adapt the Quality of Communication Questionnaire (QoC) for family members and to analyze its validity evidence for use in Brazil. Data were collected between 2017 and 2019, with family members of patients in intensive care (IC) and palliative care (PC) from five public hospitals in the South Brazil. The QoC was adapted for family members for use in Brazil, and its cross-cultural adaptation was carried out. The clarity and cultural appropriateness of the pre-final version were evaluated by 30 family members of patients in IC. The final version was responded by 198 family members of patients. All items were considered clear, and appropriate to Brazilian culture. The goodness of fit index for proposed model had CFI 0.96 (CI95%: 0.94 – 0.98), TLI 0.95 (CI95%: 0.92 – 0.97), RMSEA 0.07 (CI90%: 0.06 – 0.08), and χ2/df 2.18. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α) among family members of patients in PC was 0.88 for the general communication (first subscale) and 0.80 for the end-of-life communication (second subscale). However, among family members of patients in IC, α was 0.86 for the first subscale and only 0.53 for the second subscale. The QoC for family members and its cross-cultural adaptation were carried out successfully. It has strong validity evidence among those with loved ones in PC, but only the QoC general communication subscale has strong validity evidence among those with loved ones in IC.