Patient experience as measured with the brief CQI: an evaluation

Rationale, aims and objectives: The psychometric qualities of the brief Consumer Quality-Index (CQI), a shortened version of the regular CQI, which measures patient experience, were tested in a large dataset. Method: The brief CQI for mental healthcare (MHC) is aimed at measuring patient experience through a self-report questionnaire. It consists of 19 items, distributed over 8 factors. The reliability and validity (dimensional structure) of the questionnaire were examined, as well as the effect of completing the test anonymously. Also, several indicators of the CQI were compared on their concurrent validity: the total score, the Net Promoter Score (NPS) and the overall judgment (a single item score). The study uses observational data, collected through ROM at the post-test, after the treatment was concluded, by MHC institutes and provided on a monthly basis to the Foundation of Benchmarking Mental Health Care (Stichting Benchmark GGZ), our national benchmark institute. The data set consists of N = 38,131 respondents. The population is composed of patients with common mental disorders and behavioral or addictive disorders. Results: The results show that the CQI total score has satisfactory psychometric properties, but some subscales require improvement as only 2 showed a desired alpha-value. The reliability of the other subscales may be improved by adding extra items. The total score proved to be a better indicator of the CQI than the overall judgment and the NPS. Anonymous completion resulted in somewhat lower scores than non-anonymous completion, although the effect size of this difference was small. Conclusions: Based on the results of this study several improvements for the brief CQI are recommended. Further research should investigate the question as to whether patient characteristics are predictive for the judgment on the CQI. Also, differences between MHC providers in patient experience according to the CQI should be examined.