Chronic patient care in family medicine: PACIC (The patient assessment of chronic illness care) modifying the pacic scale and validity and reliability of the scale

Introduction and Aim Chonic illnesses are the most significant reasons of mortality and morbidity in society. Therefore, various kinds of programs and models have been developed for the control and management of the chronic illnesses. The first and most known of these models is the Chronic Care Model. Based on this model, Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) scale has been developed by Glasgow et al. through which the health care services provided to chronic patiens are assessed from the viewpoint of patients. The purpose of this study is to modify the Turkish adaptation of PACIC scale (which assesses chronic patient care from the viewpoint of the patients) according to sociacultural characteristics of our society and primary organization of our country's healtch care system and to determine the validty and reliability of modified Turkish PACIC scale. Material and Methods Our study consists of two phases. In the first phase, Turkish translation of PACIC scale has been modified according to sociacultural characteristics of our society and primary organization of our country's healthcare system. In the second phase, we studied on the validity and reliability of modified Turkish PACIC scale. A methodological research was planned for that. The study was carried out among adult population over 18 in the central town of Aydın. Random sampling method was employed for the determination of sample group. Participants consisted of people who were diagnosed with at least one of the non-communicable chronic diseases at least one year ago. The data obtained was assessed statistically via SPSS 20.0 packet program. Results The average age of the participants was 60,2±13,3, most of them were married(80,0 %), those with education status less than 8 years were (64,4%) and the retired were (43%) . The most common illnesses were respectively hypertension (58,8%), cardiovascular illness (33,2%) and diabetes (29,6%). Content Validity Index of the Instrument was found to be 0,80. Total point correlations of the items ranged between 0,27 and 0,68. Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0,93 and two-months test-retest correlation coefficient was 0,94. Explanatory factor analysis showed that the structure of the scale was five-factor. Total average point of the scale was 2,78±0,83. The average of subscales were respectively; patient participation was 2,99±1,04, decision support was 3,24±0,97; setting goal was 2,73±0,98; solving sproblems was 3,14±1,07; follow-up/coordination was 2,12±0,86. Such factors as education and income status, appointment with the relevant physician, living in urban areas, patient education and getting advice for lifestyle change and being a cancer patient all affected scale points. Conclusion Turkish-modified PACIC scale developed to assess chronic patient care from the viewpoint of the patient was determined to be valid and reliable. It is thought that it can be used to assess the quality of chronic illness care.