Validation of the Spanish version of the questionnaire on Patient Empowerment in Long-Term Conditions

Background: patient empowerment is a key factor in improving health outcomes. Objective: to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the questionnaire on Patient Empowerment in Long-Term Conditions (PELC) that evaluates the degree of empowerment of patients with chronic diseases. Methods: three measurements were made (at baseline, 2 weeks and 12 weeks) of quality of life (QoL), self-care, self-efficacy and empowerment. Reliability was evaluated as internal consistency for the entire sample. Test-retest reproducibility was evaluated for patients who were stable from baseline to week 2 (n = 70). Validity was analysed (n = 124) as baseline correlations with QoL, self-care, self-efficacy, clinical data and psychosocial variables. Sensitivity to change was analysed in terms of effect size for patients who had improved between baseline and week 12 (n = 48). Results: the study was carried out with 124 patients with a diagnosis of heart failure. Cronbach's alpha was high, at >0.9, and the interclass correlation coefficient was low, at 0.47. PELC questionnaire scores showed differences depending on New York Heart Association functional class (p