Validation of a Questionnaire for Patient Awareness and the Need for a Community-Based Outpatient Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (O-ASP): A Pilot Study

An outpatient antimicrobial stewardship program (O-ASP) was developed and implemented to promote appropriate antibiotic therapy in outpatient settings. As active patient involvement is a critical component of an effective O-ASP, this study aimed to develop and validate a questionnaire addressing patient awareness for appropriate antibiotic therapy and the need for pharmaceutical care services (PCS) in the O-ASP in Korea. The questionnaire was drafted based on ASPs and PCS guidelines and validated for content and construct validity using the item-content validity index (I-CVI) and Cronbach's alpha, respectively. The estimated I-CVI and Cronbach's alpha were considered excellent or adequate (>= 0.8 and 0.70-0.90, respectively) for most of the survey items (17 out of 23 items). The validated questionnaire was utilized in a pilot survey study, including 112 individuals (37% male) with the mean +/- SD age of 37 +/- 13 years. Among the survey participants, 68% responded that antibiotics had been prescribed appropriately; however, >= 50% showed a lack of knowledge regarding their antibiotic therapy. The participants expressed the need for PCS as part of an O-ASP in the questionnaire (average Likert score >= 3.4/5). In conclusion, our newly validated questionnaire successfully measured patient awareness and knowledge of antimicrobial use and the need for PCS in the O-ASP.

Automated summary

An outpatient antimicrobial stewardship program (O-ASP) was developed and implemented to ensure appropriate antibiotic therapy in outpatient settings. A questionnaire addressing patient awareness of antibiotic therapy and the need for pharmaceutical care services (PCS) was developed and validated, showing that most participants had some awareness of antibiotic use but lacked knowledge in specific areas, while also expressing the need for PCS in the O-ASP.