Endoscopy 2015; 47(12): 1137-1143
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1392547
Original article
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Development and validation of the Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Satisfaction Questionnaire (GESQ)

Hayley A. Hutchings
1   College of Medicine, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
,
Wai-Yee Cheung
1   College of Medicine, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
,
Laith Alrubaiy
1   College of Medicine, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
,
Dharmaraj Durai
2   Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK
,
Ian T. Russell
1   College of Medicine, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
,
John G. Williams
1   College of Medicine, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

submitted 29 January 2015

accepted after revision 14 May 2015

Publication Date:
08 September 2015 (online)

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Background and study aims: Patient satisfaction is a key indicator of the quality of gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a specific patient satisfaction questionnaire for patients undergoing GI endoscopy – the Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Satisfaction Questionnaire (GESQ).

Patients and methods: We developed and validated the GESQ within the context of a national multi-institution nurse endoscopy trial, based in secondary care, in three stages: (1) item generation with a panel of patients and professionals following a detailed literature review to identify the most relevant items from existing scales; (2) development and piloting of a draft questionnaire on a sample of patients referred for GI endoscopy; and (3) testing of the questionnaire within a large multicenter pragmatic randomized trial. We undertook psychometric analysis of the questionnaire to identify the underlying dimensions and assessed the questionnaire for reliability and validity.

Results: The final version of the GESQ contains 21 items. Principal components analysis revealed four subscales with high internal consistency: skills and hospital (seven items; Cronbach’s alpha 0.83), pain and discomfort during and after endoscopy (four items; Cronbach’s alpha 0.84), information before endoscopy (five items; Cronbach’s alpha 0.80), and information after endoscopy (five items; Cronbach’s alpha 0.76).

Conclusions: The four identified subscales are clinically relevant and correspond to domains of patient satisfaction identified in previous studies. Our development and validation of the GESQ confirmed that it is a valid, reliable, interpretable, and acceptable tool to measure satisfaction in patients who have undergone a GI endoscopy.

Appendix e1 and e2