Validity of the internal structure of the primary care assessment scale in Peruvian healthcare facilities

Objectives: To validate the user-friendly condensed version of the primary health care assessment tool (PCAT) in Peruvian Social Security (EsSalud) healthcare facilities. Material and methods: An observational and cross-sectional study was conducted to validate the condensed version of the PCAT instrument for Spanish-speaking users. Primary data were collected from users of EsSalud primary healthcare facilities in different regions of Peru: Lima, Ancash, Junin, Tacna, and Cusco. Structural validity, construct validity, and reliability of the instrument were assessed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and main component analysis. Internal consistency was also assessed using McDonald's alpha and omega coefficients. Results: The instrument was administered to 309 users, whose average age was 55.1. More than half (54.7%) surveyed users were married, and 57.1% had higher education. The EFA identified the presence of three factors or dimensions in the instrument, which in total explained 39% of the variance. Internal consistency was above 0.7 in the three identified dimensions, and the overall internal consistency was 0.833. Conclusions: We propose a 20-item instrument with good internal structure properties for assessing primary healthcare according to Peruvian users.