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Support Needs Approach for Patients (SNAP) tool: a validation study.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Gardener, A Carole 
Mendonca, Silvia C 

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Patient-identified need is key to delivering holistic, supportive, person-centred care, but we lack tools enabling patients to express what they need to manage life with a long-term condition. The Support Needs Approach for Patients (SNAP) tool was developed to enable patients with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) identify and express their unmet support needs to healthcare professionals (HCPs), but its validity is unknown. This study aimed to establish face, content and criterion validity of the SNAP tool. DESIGN: Two-stage mixed-methods study involving patients with advanced COPD and their carers. Stage 1: Face and content validity assessed though focus groups involving patients and carers considering appropriateness, relevance and completeness of the SNAP tool. Data were analysed using conventional content analysis. Stage 2: Content and criterion validity assessed in a postal survey through patient self-completion of the SNAP tool and disease impact measures (Chronic Respiratory Questionnaire, COPD Assessment Test, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). Content validity assessed using summary statistics; criterion validity via correlations between tool items and impact measures. SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred and forty patients and carers participated. Stage 1 patient and informal carer participants were recruited from two primary care practices and Stage 2 patients from 28 practices. Participating practices located in the East of England were recruited via the NIHR Clinical Research Network: Eastern. RESULTS: Patients and carers found the tool patient-friendly and comprehensive, with potential clinical utility. No tool items were redundant. Clear correlations were found between tool items and the majority of items in the impact measures. CONCLUSIONS: The SNAP tool has good face, content and criterion validity. It has potential to support the delivery of holistic, supportive, person-centred care by enabling patients to identify and express their unmet support needs to HCPs.

Description

Keywords

chronic airways disease, qualitative research, respiratory medicine (see thoracic medicine)

Journal Title

BMJ Open

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2044-6055
2044-6055

Volume Title

9

Publisher

BMJ
Sponsorship
Marie Curie Cancer Care (via University of East Anglia (UEA)) (R204745)
This paper presents independent research funded by Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme (MCRGS-07-16-10).