Communication in Neonatal Intensive Care: Translation and Validation of the "Parents' Experiences of Communication in Neonatal Care" Questionnaire for the Portuguese Population.
Rita Melo Parente, Rita Guerreiro, Laura Garcia, Bruno Sanches, Raquel Gomes, Maria Clara Rocha, Anselmo Costa
{"title":"Communication in Neonatal Intensive Care: Translation and Validation of the \"Parents' Experiences of Communication in Neonatal Care\" Questionnaire for the Portuguese Population.","authors":"Rita Melo Parente, Rita Guerreiro, Laura Garcia, Bruno Sanches, Raquel Gomes, Maria Clara Rocha, Anselmo Costa","doi":"10.20344/amp.22739","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Communication is a fundamental aspect in healthcare, more so in fragile environments such as Neonatology. To optimize communication strategies with parents, it is essential to assess its quality. The aim of this study was to validate, for the Portuguese population, an instrument for assessing the quality of communication between healthcare professionals and parents in neonatal care units.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The Parents' Experiences of Communication in Neonatal Care questionnaire was developed in the United Kingdom to evaluate communication with parents specifically. The 28-question instrument was adapted and translated to European Portuguese following a three-step protocol: translation, review, and back-translation. Subsequently, the validation process was conducted in three stages: (1) face validity through cognitive interviews; (2) content validity through external panel evaluation; and (3) performance assessment through a four-month pilot study in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Cultural adaptation resulted in the removal of two questions. The remaining questions were translated to Portuguese. Cognitive interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of ten parents, leading to important revisions in two questions. Five external professionals evaluated the item's relevance in a 4-point Likert scale. Four questions presented an item content validity index value below the threshold of 0.78. Two questions were adjusted and two were eliminated at this stage. The questionnaire was delivered to 31 parents, with a total of 60 questionnaires completed. Five questions were reviewed due to a non-response rate greater than 5%, and one for exceeding 95% uniform responses. No question had a dropout rate greater than 5%, nor did any have a rate of non-informative answers exceeding 5%. A significant correlation (Kendall's Tau > 0.7) was found between three sets of questions.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The European Portuguese version of Parents' Experiences of Communication in Neonatal Care survey contains 24 questions. This is the first comprehensive and valid instrument at national level to objectively measure satisfaction with communication of parents of children admitted to the neonatal intensive care units. Its use will enable monitoring of interventions aimed at improving communication, which is crucial for enhancing family-centered care.</p>","PeriodicalId":7059,"journal":{"name":"Acta medica portuguesa","volume":"38 9","pages":"548-556"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Acta medica portuguesa","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.20344/amp.22739","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Communication is a fundamental aspect in healthcare, more so in fragile environments such as Neonatology. To optimize communication strategies with parents, it is essential to assess its quality. The aim of this study was to validate, for the Portuguese population, an instrument for assessing the quality of communication between healthcare professionals and parents in neonatal care units.
Methods: The Parents' Experiences of Communication in Neonatal Care questionnaire was developed in the United Kingdom to evaluate communication with parents specifically. The 28-question instrument was adapted and translated to European Portuguese following a three-step protocol: translation, review, and back-translation. Subsequently, the validation process was conducted in three stages: (1) face validity through cognitive interviews; (2) content validity through external panel evaluation; and (3) performance assessment through a four-month pilot study in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit.
Results: Cultural adaptation resulted in the removal of two questions. The remaining questions were translated to Portuguese. Cognitive interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of ten parents, leading to important revisions in two questions. Five external professionals evaluated the item's relevance in a 4-point Likert scale. Four questions presented an item content validity index value below the threshold of 0.78. Two questions were adjusted and two were eliminated at this stage. The questionnaire was delivered to 31 parents, with a total of 60 questionnaires completed. Five questions were reviewed due to a non-response rate greater than 5%, and one for exceeding 95% uniform responses. No question had a dropout rate greater than 5%, nor did any have a rate of non-informative answers exceeding 5%. A significant correlation (Kendall's Tau > 0.7) was found between three sets of questions.
Conclusion: The European Portuguese version of Parents' Experiences of Communication in Neonatal Care survey contains 24 questions. This is the first comprehensive and valid instrument at national level to objectively measure satisfaction with communication of parents of children admitted to the neonatal intensive care units. Its use will enable monitoring of interventions aimed at improving communication, which is crucial for enhancing family-centered care.
简介:沟通是医疗保健的一个基本方面,在脆弱的环境中更是如此,如新生儿科。为了优化与家长的沟通策略,评估沟通质量至关重要。本研究的目的是为葡萄牙人口验证一种评估新生儿护理单位医护人员与父母之间沟通质量的工具。方法:在英国开发了“新生儿护理中父母沟通体验问卷”,专门评估与父母的沟通。这个有28个问题的工具被改编并翻译成欧洲葡萄牙语,遵循三个步骤:翻译、审查和反翻译。随后,分三个阶段进行验证过程:(1)通过认知访谈进行面孔效度验证;(2)通过外部小组评估的内容效度;(3)通过在三级新生儿重症监护室进行为期四个月的试点研究进行绩效评估。结果:文化适应导致两个问题被删除。其余的问题被翻译成葡萄牙语。认知访谈是在十位家长的方便样本中进行的,在两个问题上进行了重要的修改。5名外部专业人士用4分李克特量表评估项目的相关性。4个问题的项目内容效度指标值低于0.78的阈值。这一阶段调整了两个问题,淘汰了两个问题。问卷发放给31位家长,共完成60份问卷。有5个问题的无回复率大于5%,1个问题的统一回复率超过95%。没有一个问题的辍学率超过5%,也没有一个问题的非信息性答案率超过5%。在三组问题之间发现了显著的相关性(Kendall's Tau >.7)。结论:欧洲葡萄牙语版《新生儿护理中父母沟通体验调查》包含24个问题。这是第一个全面和有效的工具,在国家层面,客观地衡量满意度的沟通的孩子的父母住进新生儿重症监护病房。它的使用将能够监测旨在改善沟通的干预措施,这对加强以家庭为中心的护理至关重要。
期刊介绍:
The aim of Acta Médica Portuguesa is to publish original research and review articles in biomedical areas of the
highest standard, covering several domains of medical
knowledge, with the purpose to help doctors improve medical care.
In order to accomplish these aims, Acta Médica Portuguesa publishes original articles, review articles, case reports and editorials, among others, with a focus on clinical,
scientific, social, political and economic factors affecting
health. Acta Médica Portuguesa will be happy to consider
manuscripts for publication from authors anywhere in the
world.