Cross-cultural validation of the desire for information about prescribed medicines scale.

Objectives: It is the overall aim of this study to validate an existing scale to measure patients' desire for information about their medicines in the geographically and culturally disparate context of the USA. Specific objectives are to determine the psychometric properties of the previously validated Extent of Information Desired (EID) and Perceived Utility of Medicines (PUM) scales and to describe the complexities inherent to cross-cultural validation.

Methods: The setting was a culturally diverse tri-county (Palm Beach, Broward and Miami Dade counties) area of South Florida. The research design was cross-sectional and descriptive; data were gathered from respondents using a facilitator-administered survey instrument.

Key Findings: The overall reliability of the survey was 0.669 using Cronbach's alpha. When EID and PUM survey statements were analysed alone, internal consistency was 0.692 and 0.545 respectively. The association between scores and select demographic variables were analysed and no correlation was found. The previously validated scale (UK) was not reliable in the complex cultural population of Florida.

Conclusions: Instruments demonstrating reliability in one country are not immediately replicable in other countries, even if the same language is spoken. Caution needs to be taken when interpreting the findings from studies using instruments designed in cultural contexts dissimilar from those in which the have been developed originally.