Multi-Item Scale:

Item Text:

d) …your experiences in how far you were involved in decisions concerning your treatment? [… Ihre Erfahrungen, inwiefern Sie in Entscheidungen, die Ihre Behandlung betrafen, miteinbezogen wurden?]

Different Answer Format Tested:

Nein

Findings:

Serbian

Test person SER02 has no difficulty in answering the question. She describes the overall impression of her last visit to the doctor, which she remembers as very positive: "Nurse and doctor were nice and very good, explained everything well. It was a good examination, I was very satisfied." (SER02). It is unclear to what extent this overall impression also includes the focus of the item (involvement in decisions concerning treatment).

Arabic

Test person AR01 states that the attending physician explained the MRI images to her at her knee surgery and pointed out both the consequences of the procedure and alternatives to surgery. The test person finds the answer to this question very easy.

Test person AR02 explains that she has already seen seven orthopaedic surgeons because of her complaints and nobody knows exactly how her condition can be improved. The doctors had given her very few opportunities to have a say in the treatment.

Farsi

Test person FAR01 does not understand the intention or reason for the question. She states that she is the patient after all and does not know what to do from a medical point of view. That is why she goes to the doctor. The test person therefore leaves the question unanswered.

Test person FAR02 describes an experience at the dentist who had told her that a tooth had to be extracted. Since the test person did not want that, the dentist suggested a root canal treatment as an alternative, even though the tooth might have to be extracted later. At the test person's request, he also carried out the root canal treatment.

Russian

Test person RUS01 states that the treatment was "decided over [her] head" and she was not really involved in any decisions.

Test person RUS02 does not understand the intention of the question and therefore leaves the question unanswered: "What is meant by 'involved'? Whether one was asked or had to tell? It's not clear what is meant." (RUS02).

English

Test person ENG01 states that the treating physicians included her in the treatment and presented different possibilities of the therapy.

Recommendations:

In question 17d, two respondents (in Farsi and Russian) have substantive difficulties with the question, as it is not clear to them to what extent they should be "involved" as patients. Both persons leave the question unanswered. We recommend rephrasing this question as follows: To what extent were you able to participate in deciding on your treatment? [Inwieweit Sie über Ihre Behandlung mitentscheiden konnten?]

Question tested:

true