Development and Psychometric Validation of the Patient Experience for Disease Management Scale (PEDMS) in Outpatient Settings in Najran, Saudi Arabia

<b>Background</b>: Measuring patient experience is essential for enhancing healthcare quality, particularly in disease management contexts. Existing instruments often lack specificity for outpatient settings. <b>Objective</b>: The objective of this study is to create and assess the Patient Experience for Disease Management Scale (PEDMS) psychometrically in order to precisely record patient experiences. <b>Method</b>: A mixed-methods approach was used, with qualitative insights derived from the literature and expert consultations, followed by quantitative analyses. A sample of 600 outpatients was surveyed in Najran, Saudi Arabia, from September 2023 to May 2024, using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) to test the scale's psychometric qualities. <b>Results</b>: The PEDMS identified eight distinct factors, explaining 86.32% of the variance. The findings from the CFA significantly affirm the validity of the PEDMS's structure, demonstrating excellent model fit as indicated by multiple fit indices: CFI (0.965), NFI (0.975), SRMR (0.051), and RMSEA (0.067). Additionally, the PEDMS exhibits strong convergent validity, supported by high CR and AVE values, both exceeding 0.70 and 0.50, respectively. Furthermore, all item loadings are greater than 0.70, reinforcing the PEDMS's robustness. The reliability of the PEDMS is considered excellent, as demonstrated by a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.878 for the entire 38-item scale. Each factor exhibits strong internal consistency, with values ranging from 0.827 to 0.879, all surpassing the threshold of 0.7. <b>Conclusions</b>: The PEDMS provides a reliable tool for measuring patient experiences in disease management, offering healthcare providers actionable insights for patient-centered care. This study emphasizes the need to integrate standardized metrics into quality improvement frameworks in order to improve healthcare outcomes.