Portuguese Adaptation and Input for the Validation of the Views on Inpatient Care (VOICE) Outcome Measure to Assess Service Users’ Perceptions of Inpatient Psychiatric Care

Abstract

Introduction: Patient satisfaction is an important measure of health care quality. Patients’ views have seldom been considered in the construction of measures addressing satisfaction with inpatient facilities in psychiatry. The Views on Inpatient Care - VOICE - is a first service-user generated outcome measure relying solely on their perceptions of acute care, representing a valuable indicator of service users’ perceived quality of care. The present study aimed to contribute to the validation of the Portuguese version of VOICE.
Material and Methods: The questionnaire was translated into Portuguese and applied to a sample of eighty-five female inpatients of a psychiatric institution. Data analysis focused on assessing reliability and exploring the impact of demographic and clinical variables on participants’ satisfaction.
Results: Internal consistency of the questionnaire was high (α = 0.87). Participants’ age and marital status were associated with differences in scores, with older patients and patients who were married or involved in a close relationship presenting higher satisfaction levels.
Discussion: The questionnaire demonstrated good internal consistency and acceptability, as well as construct validity. Further studies should expand the analysis of the psychometric properties of this measure e.g., test-retest reliability.
Conclusion: The Portuguese version of VOICE is a promising tool to assess service users’ perceptions of inpatient psychiatric care in Portugal.