Development and validation of an instrument assessing women’s satisfaction with screening mammography in an organized breast cancer screening program

BACKGROUND The assessment of the quality of mammography services delivered in organized breast cancer screening programs should include measures centered on women's perceptions. The objective of this study was to develop and validate an instrument in French designed to evaluate the satisfaction of women having a screening mammography. METHODS An instrument evaluating women's satisfaction with mammography services was developed using published research, the perceptions of screened women, the expertise of health professionals and a pilot study. Between November 9 and 21, 2011, the questionnaire was sent to 1500 consecutive women having had a screening mammography in eight radiologic facilities designated by the Québec Breast Cancer Screening Program, in Quebec City, Canada. Construct validity, convergent and discriminant validity, reliability and sensitivity of the instrument were examined. RESULTS A total of 819 women (55%) participated in the validation study. The factor analysis retained four satisfaction dimensions: satisfaction with 1) the technician's skills (four items), 2) the physical environment (four items), 3) the staff's communication skills (three items) and 4) the information given by the program (3 items). The multitrait-scaling analysis showed good convergent and discriminant validity: scaling success was 100% for all subscales. All subscales had good internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas ≥ 0.86). The satisfaction scores were able to identify groups of women with lower levels of satisfaction, such as younger women or women with pain during breast compression. CONCLUSION This brief satisfaction instrument, developed in French, showed good psychometric properties to evaluate satisfaction in women receiving mammographic services in an organized breast cancer screening program.