Objective: To conduct the first phases in the development of a self-report measure of empowerment on the hearing health journey, specifically, item generation and content evaluation of the initial pool of items generated.
Design: A content expert panel survey and cognitive interviews were conducted. Descriptive statistics were obtained for the quantitative data, and the cognitive interviews were analysed using thematic analysis.
Study sample: Eleven researchers and clinicians participated in the content expert surveys. Sixteen experienced hearing aid users participated in the cognitive interviews, recruited from the USA and Australia.
Results: The items underwent five iterations based on feedback from the survey and interview data. This resulted in a set of 33 quality-tested potential survey items that were rated highly for relevance (mean = 3.96), clarity (mean = 3.70) and fit to dimensions of empowerment (mean = 3.92) (scale 0-4, where 4 was the maximum rating).
Conclusions: Involving stakeholders in item generation and content evaluation increased relevance, clarity, fit to dimension, comprehensiveness, and acceptability of the items. This preliminary version of the 33-item measure underwent further psychometric refinement (Rasch analysis and traditional classical test theory testing) to validate it for clinical and research use (reported separately).
Keywords: Content validity; empowerment; hearing aid users; hearing loss; qualitative research; questionnaire development; self-report measure.