General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. Abstract Purpose: To construct and test the reliability and validity of the EMpowerment of PArents in THe Intensive Care (EMPATHIC) questionnaire measuring parent satisfaction in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Methods: Structured development and psychometric testing of a parent satisfaction-withcare instrument with the results of two cohorts of parents (n = 2,046) from eight PICUs in the Netherlands. Results: In the first cohort, 667/ 1,055 (63%) parents participated followed by 551/991 (56%) parents in the second cohort. The empirical structure of the instrument was established by confirmatory factor analysis with the first sample of parents confirming 65 statements within five theoretically conceptualized domains: information, care and cure, organization, parental participation, and professional attitude. The standardized factor loadings were greater than 0.40 in 63 statements. Cronbach's a, a measure of reliability, per domain ranged from 0.73 to 0.93 in both cohorts with no significant difference documenting the reliability over time. Beside rigorous content and face validity, the congruent validity of the instrument showed adequate correlation with four gold standard questions measuring overall satisfaction. The nondifferential validity was confirmed with no significant differences between the population characteristics and the domains, except that parents with a child for a surgical admission were more satisfied on information issues. Intensive Care Med (2011) 37:310-318 DOI 10.1007/s00134-010-2042 PEDIATRIC ORIGINAL Conclusions: The final EMPATHIC questionnaire incorporates 65 statements. The empirical structure of the satisfaction statements and domains was satisfactory. The reliability and validity proved to be adequate. The EMPATHIC questionnaire is a valid quality performance indicator to measure quality of care as perceived by parents
