Deriving and validating a brief measure of treatment burden to assess person-centered healthcare quality in primary care: a multi-method study

Table 2 Brief PETS scores (mean and SD) at baseline and Cronbach’s alphas for multi-item scales

Brief PETS score^a	Full sample (N = 400)	HCMC sample (N = 200)	REP sample (N = 200)	P-value^e
Workload summary index^b	30.4 (19.8)	36.8 (20.3)	24.2 (17.3)	< .001
Medical information (alpha = 0.89)	32.5 (21.0)	37.2 (22.0)	27.8 (18.8)	< .001
Medications (alpha = 0.87)	22.1 (23.9)	29.7 (26.7)	14.8 (18.0)	< .001
Medical appointments (alpha = 0.74)	27.6 (24.6)	33.7 (26.4)	21.6 (21.2)	< .001
Monitoring health (alpha = 0.89)	39.8 (27.7)	45.9 (27.4)	33.5 (26.5)	< .001
Impact summary index^c	34.0 (25.9)	42.8 (25.3)	25.5 (23.5)	< .001
Role activity limitations (alpha = 0.93)	30.1 (30.2)	39.3 (31.1)	21.2 (26.4)	< .001
Physical / mental exhaustion (alpha = 0.92)	38.0 (26.7)	46.5 (26.0)	29.8 (24.8)	< .001
Diet^d (alpha = 0.72)	52.0 (24.7)	55.8 (23.4)	45.6 (25.5)	< .01
Exercise / physical therapy^d (alpha = 0.62)	59.9 (25.8)	66.2 (24.0)	51.5 (25.8)	< .001
Medical expenses (alpha = 0.87)	46.1 (27.0)	50.0 (26.2)	42.4 (27.3)	< .01
Difficulty with healthcare services (alpha = 0.72)	43.3 (26.2)	51.8 (25.9)	33.5 (23.0)	< .001
Medication side-effects bother (alpha: NA)	21.8 (27.4)	24.4 (28.1)	19.2 (26.6)	NS

^aHigher PETS score = more burden (0 = lowest burden; 100 = highest burden). ^bAggregated mean of scores in the medical information, medications, medical appointments, and monitoring health scales. Calculated when > 50% of the four constituent scales are non-missing. ^cAggregated mean of scores in the role/social activity limitations and physical/mental exhaustion scales. Calculated when > 50% of the two constituent scales are non-missing (i.e., when both scales are non-missing). ^dYes/no screener used for the diet and exercise / physical therapy domains. ^eP-value associated with t-test comparison of Brief PETS scores between HCMC and REP samples. SD standard deviation, NA not applicable, NS not significant, HCMC Hennepin County Medical Center (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA), REP Rochester Epidemiology Project (Olmsted County, Minnesota, USA)

ISSN: 1471-2296