Reliability and Validity of a Thai Version of Assessment
of Chronic Illness Care (ACIC)
Patama Gomutbutra MD*,
Apinun Aramrat MD, PhD*, Worapoj Sattapansri MA**,
Siam Chutima MA**, Dusida Tooprakai MD***,
Pokin Sakarinkul MD****, Yaowapa Sangkhasilapin MA**
Affiliation :
* Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
** Department of English, Faculty of Humanisitic, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
*** Lamphun Hospital, Lamphun, Thailand
**** Lampang Hospital, Lampang, Thailand
Background : The Assessment Chronic Illness Care (ACIC), developed in the United States, is a quality-improvement tool
used to help organization evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their delivery of care for chronic illness in six areas,
community linkages, self-management support, decision support, delivery system design, information systems, and
organization of care. These areas of care are influenced by the Chronic Care Model. The questionnaire scale ranges from
0 to 11.
Objective : Translate in Thai language and validate the ACIC as a practical tool to measure the quality of chronic illness
care in Thailand.
Material and Method: In a cross-sectional study, the content validity was examined by public health experts. The original
ACIC was translated into Thai with permission from The MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation at Group Health’s
Center for Health Studies. The translation process followed the World Health Organization (WHO) process of translation
and adaptation of instruments, including forward translation, expert panel and synthesis of the translation, back translation,
pre-testing, and cognitive interviewing. The pre-testing was done by distributing the questionnaire to a sample of 12
organizations with cognitive interviewing, followed by revision and finalization of the questionnaire. The reliability and
validity of the translated version was then examined by distributing the questionnaire to 172 organizations (84 district
hospitals and 88 community health center primary care units within the upper northern part of Thailand ) focusing on care
of cerebrovascular disease.
Results : The response rate was approximately 70% or 120 organizations. The results from these organizations’ self-assessment
showed that the Thai version of ACIC achieved good levels of reliability and validity, with the range of Cronbach’s alpha
coefficients being 0.846 to 0.972 in each aspect of ACIC. However, ACIC inablility to detect statistical significant difference
in score for each dimension though the self-management support and decision support are the two relatively low score
rating.
Conclusion : The Thai translation of the ACIC can be used as an organization self-assessment instrument to evaluate the
quality of chronic care in Thailand. Further explanatory research of association between ACIC assessment and organization
change as well as clinical outcomes is needed.
Keywords : Chronic care model, ACIC Thai, Self management support
All Articles
Download