Development and initial psychometric evaluation of a questionnaire for post intensive care recovery - PIR

BACKGROUND: Recovery after intensive care is a complex and sometimes prolonged process. There is no instrument available for measuring the physical, psychological, and social dimensions of recovery in this setting. The extent of impairment in each dimension and their relative contributions to well-being after survival from critical care is unknown. The aim of this study was to develop a standardised questionnaire for measuring recovery during the whole process after intensive care and evaluate its psychometric properties with focus on factor structure and internal consistency. METHOD: The study was performed in two different phases, the development and psychometric evaluation. The development phase included four-steps: (1) identification of possible domains and items of relevance; (2) Delphi study to achieve consensus on critical items to include in the questionnaire; (3) questionnaire construction; (4) cognitive interviews. The psychometric evaluation phase was based on data from 166 patients, recruited from two general ICUs in Sweden. Ordinal confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to examine the factor structure, and ordinal alpha and ordinal omega were used to assess internal consistency reliability. RESULTS: The preliminary version covering the domains of Psychological, Symptoms, Cognition, Daily activity, and Personal resilience in Post Intensive care Recovery (PIR). The hypothesised dimensions were confirmed in the CFA after some theoretically motivated adjustments, and all scales demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency reliability (α = 0.78–0.93, ω = 0.73–0.92). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the PIR demonstrates sound psychometric properties in factor structure and internal consistency. However, further evaluation is required before it can be recommended for clinical use. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.