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The Patient Needs in Asthma Treatment (NEAT) questionnaire: Further evidence on its psychometric properties
Author(s) -
Schreitmüller Julia,
Apfelbacher Christian,
Sheikh Aziz,
Loerbroks Adrian
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
allergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.363
H-Index - 173
eISSN - 1398-9995
pISSN - 0105-4538
DOI - 10.1111/all.13782
Subject(s) - asthma , medicine , quality of life (healthcare) , physical therapy , patient satisfaction , surgery , nursing
Background Building on previous psychometric work, we sought to assess the Patient Needs in Asthma Treatment (NEAT) questionnaire's validity, responsiveness to change, and the minimal important change (MIC) over a 3‐year period (Study 1) and its reliability and the smallest detectable change (SDC) in a test‐retest study (Study 2) among patients self‐reporting physician‐diagnosed asthma. Methods In Study 1, a total of 207 patients completed a survey which included the NEAT, the Asthma Control Test (ACT), the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire‐Sydney (AQLQ‐S), and a question on treatment satisfaction in 2014 and 2017. In Study 2, a total of 78 patients completed NEAT twice on average four weeks apart in 2018. Results Concurrent validity: In linear regressions, unmet patient needs were cross‐sectionally associated with poorer asthma control (β = −0.21; P = 0.01), asthma‐related quality of life (QoL) (β = 0.31; P < 0.01), and treatment satisfaction (β = −0.59; P < 0.01). Predictive Validity: Higher unmet needs at baseline predicted worse treatment satisfaction at follow‐up (β = −0.28; P < 0.01), but neither asthma control nor asthma‐related QoL. Responsiveness to change was demonstrated by linear regressions of changes in the total NEAT score and changes in AQLQ‐S (β = 0.21; P < 0.01) and treatment satisfaction (β = −0.36; P < 0.01). MIC: Patients whose NEAT score increased between baseline and follow‐up by the identified MIC (0.301) reported lower treatment satisfaction at follow‐up (β = −0.17; P = 0.01). Test‐retest reliability was demonstrated by correlations between NEAT baseline and follow‐up scores (eg, intra‐class correlation coefficients for total score = 0.78). The SDC (0.384) was slightly larger than MIC. Conclusion NEAT is a promising tool for assessing asthma treatment needs.