Content validity of an instrument for assessing healthcare needs of people with disabilities

Objective: To validate the content of an instrument for assessing the healthcare needs of people with physical, hearing and visual disabilities.Method: A methodological study divided into three steps: literature review, and construction and validation of instrument for assessing the health needs of people with disabilities. The content of the items was validated using the Delphi technique and application of the instrument for 33 experts in the first round and 18 experts in the second round. The content validity index (> 0.80) and the trustworthiness of the items of the instrument were verified using Cronbach's alpha. Results: During the first Delphi round, it was verified that five items of the dimension sociodemographic data and two items of the dimension living conditions did not reach the established content validity index. In the other items, there was an agreement, and the content validity index ranged from 0.82 and 1. In the second round, after accepting suggestions from the experts, all the evaluated items reached excellent indexes. Significant differences were found for the dimensions sociodemographic data, living conditions and in domain 1 (p > 0.05). Cronbach's alpha was 0.884 in Delphi round I and 0.825 in Delphi round II.Conclusions: The proposed instrument presents satisfactory validity and reliability values and serves as a guide to assess the healthcare needs of people with disabilities. This instrument can be used to portray the healthcare needs of people with physical, hearing and visual disabilities.