Development and Validation of the Hospital Outpatients’ Information Needs Questionnaire (HOINQ)

Figures & data

Figure 1 Scheme of the “Hospital Outpatients’ Information Needs Questionnaire” (HOINQ) validation protocol.

Table 1 Rotated Component Matrix Containing Estimates of the Correlations Between Each of the Variables and Estimated Components. (Rotation Converged in 6 Interactions. Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization)

	Component
	1	2	3
Item 14	0.833	0.122	0.281
Item 15	0.830	0.103	0.212
Item 11	0.786	0.148	0.267
Item 12	0.652	0.213	−.122
Item 9	−.007	0.742	0.051
Item 6	0.246	0.741	0.078
Item 7	0.239	0.701	0.248
Item 10	0.171	0.575	0.472
Item 4	0.263	0.270	0.657
Item 5	−.245	−.154	0.617
Item 3	0.320	0.312	0.601
Item 2	0.334	0.184	0.504
Item 1	0.386	0.339	0.482
Item 8	0.377	0.339	0.445

Table 2 Definitive Structure of the “Hospital Outpatients’ Information Needs Questionnaire” (HOINQ), After Applying Appropriate Modifications During the Validation Process

Block 1: The Validated Questionnaire
Item 1–6: Information about the disease	[1] Disease diagnosis
	[2] If the disease is under control
	[3] Medical tests purpose
	[4] Medical tests results
	[5] Treatment expected benefits
	[6] Management of disease in daily activities
Item 7–10: Information about pharmacological and no-pharmacological treatment	[7] Treatment potential side-effects
	[8] Treatment effects on quality of life
	[9] The possibility of receiving professional psychological support
	[10] Things to do to get well
Item 11–14: Information about satisfaction and perception of the information received	[11] Information amount
	[12] Patient would like to receive more information than mentioned above
	[13] Information quality
	[14] Information usefulness
Item 15–16: Information specific for Neurology/Rheumatology services	[15] Medical tests procedures [16] Rehabilitation services
Block 2: Variables of Interest
Demographical	Gender, level of education, age
Clinical	Disease, time since diagnosis, time since patient attends the Pharmacy Service
Block 3: Preferred Sources of Information
Proposed sources	General practitioners, medical specialists, nurses, pharmacists, friends/relatives, another person with the disease/patient associations, pamphlets/leaflets, health magazines/newspapers, internet, information campaigns

Table 3 Demographic and Clinical Variables

		Number of Patients (%)
Total sample		153 (100)
Disease	Psoriasis	52 (34.0)
	HIV	33 (21.6)
	Multiple sclerosis	6 (3.9)
	Rheumatoid arthritis	32 (20.9)
	Others	30 (19.6)
Gender	Female	67 (43.8)
	Male	86 (56.2)
Level of education	No schooling	4 (2.6)
	Primary school	27 (17.6)
	Secondary school	59 (38.6)
	University studies	63 (41.2)
		Years (mean ± SD)
Age		53.3 ± 15.7
Time since diagnosis		12.1 ± 11.1
Time since patient attends the Pharmacy Service		4.7 ± 6.7
Difference between time since diagnosis/patient attends the Pharmacy Service		7.8 ± 10.3

Abbreviation: HIV, human immunodeficiency virus.

Table 4 Patients’ Responses to the Questionnaire Prepared for Validation

	Would Patients Like More Information?	How Much Information Patients Had Received? N (%)				Total N (%)
		Not at All	A little	Quite a Bit	Very Much
Items 1–2: Information about the disease
[1] Disease diagnosis	Yes	2 (1.3)	9 (5.9)	19 (12.4)	14 (9.2)	44 (28.8)
	No	1 (0.7)	4 (2.6)	45 (29.4)	59 (38,6)	109 (71.2)
[2] If the disease is under control	Yes	1 (0.7)	10 (6.5)	21 (13.7)	11 (7.2)	43 (28.1)
	No	2 (1.3)	3 (2.0)	39 (25.5)	66 (43.1)	110 (71.9)
Items 3–4: Information about medical tests
[3] Medical tests purpose	Yes	4 (2.6)	4 (2.6)	27 (17.6)	4 (2.6)	39 (25.5)
	No	1 (0.7)	4 (2.6)	46 (30.1)	63 (41.2)	114 (74.5)
[4] Medical tests results	Yes	2 (1.3)	5 (3.3)	27 (17.6)	5 (3.3)	39 (25.5)
	No	1 (0.70)	1 (0.7)	46 (30.1)	66 (43.1)	114 (74.5)
Items 5–7: Information about treatment
[5] Treatment expected benefits	Yes	1 (0.7)	5 (3.3)	19 (12.4)	12 (7.8)	37 (24.2)
	No	0 (0)	5 (3.3)	37 (24.2)	74 (48.4)	116 (75.8)
[6] Treatment potential side-effects	Yes	8 (5.2)	14 (9.2)	22 (14.4)	8 (5.2)	52 (34.0)
	No	7 (4.6)	22 (14.4)	32 (20.9)	40 (26.1)	101 (66.0)
[7] Treatment effects on quality of life	Yes	5 (3.3)	7 (4.6)	22 (14.4)	10 (6.5)	44 (28.8)
	No	7 (4.6)	10 (6.5)	35 (22.9)	57 (37.3)	109 (71.2)
Items 8–9: Information about other services
[8] Management of the disease in daily activities	Yes	6 (3.9)	6 (3.9)	16 (10.5)	7 (4.6)	35 (22.9)
	No	6 (3.9)	12 (7.8)	46 (30.1)	54 (35.3)	118 (77.1)
[9] The possibility of receiving professional psychological support	Yes	21 (13.7)	9 (5.9)	3 (2.0)	3 (2.0)	36 (23.5)
	No	48 (31.4)	22 (14.4)	21 (13.7)	26 (17.0)	117 (76.5)
Item 10: Information about other areas
[10] Things to do to get well	Yes	8 (5.2)	21 (13.7)	13 (8.5)	4 (2.6)	46 (30.1)
	No	10 (6.5)	21 (13.7)	36 (23.5)	40 (26.1)	107 (69.9)
Items 11–15: Perception of satisfaction of the information received
		Not at all	A little	Quite a bit	Very much
[11] Information amount		0 (0)	12 (7.8)	78 (51.0)	63 (41.2)
	Yes			No
[12] Patient would like to receive more information than mentioned	59 (38.6)			94 (61.4)
[13] Patient would like to receive less information than mentioned	2 (1.3)			151 (98.7)
		Not at all	A little	Quite a bit	Very much
[14] Information quality		1 (0.7)	9 (5.9)	80 (52.3)	63 (41.2)
[15] Information usefulness		0 (0)	9 (5.9)	71 (46.4)	73 (47.7)
Items 16–17: Information specific for Neurology/Rheumatology services
[16] Medical tests procedures	Yes	1 (2.6)	7 (18.4)	4 (10.5)	0 (0)	12 (31.6)
	No	0 (0)	4 (10.5)	13 (34.2)	9 (23.7)	26 (68.4)
[17] Rehabilitation services	Yes	10 (26.3)	5 (13.2)	1 (2.6)	1 (2.6)	17 (44.7)
	No	9 (23.7)	3 (7.9)	4 (10.5)	5 (13.2)	21 (55.3)

Figure 2 Responses’ mean values to all questionnaire items and also grouped according to the three definitive information areas, differentiating patients’ diseases.

Figure 3 Patients’ preferred sources of information.