Table 3 PAQ cognitive debrief findings and participants’ suggested edits
Item | Understanding (n/N*) | Relevance (n/N) | Response options appropriate (n/N) | Recall period suitable (n/N) | Observer reportability (n/N) | Participant suggested change and quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
General instruction | 15/15 | NA** | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Item 1: oral steroids, past month | 9/15 | 13/15 | 13/15 | 13/15 | 14/15 | Clarify mode of administration for oral steroids (n = 4): “I would say, um, in the oral steroids, uh, I would not just give an example of the drug, but I would give an example of the method of administration. So, the- I would call out pill or nebulized”. – SP-003 |
Item 2: emergency room/hospitalizations, past month | 15/15 | 11/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | NA |
Weekly timeframe | 14/14 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Item 3: breathing problems, past week | 15/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 14/15 | Replace “how often” with “how many days” to reflect concordance between item and response options (n- = 2); “… it's asking you to count days, not to count time. So, um … when you said how- uh, how often, um, you might just say how many days.” – SP-005 |
Instruction to continue | 15/15 | NA | NA | NA | NA | Bold important aspect of instruction, ‘please stop here’ to make more visible (n = 3): “I would just bold it like how you did the previous one.” – CH-004 |
Item 4: nighttime breathing problems, past week | 15/15 | 15/15 | 14/15 | 15/15 | 14/15 | NA |
Item 5: limitations from breathing problems, past week | 15/15 | 14/15 | 13/15 | 15/15 | 14/15 | NA |
Item 6: quick relief medications, past week | 13/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 15/15 | 14/15 | Replace “how often” with “how many days” to reflect concordance between item and response options (n- = 2); “[In the item] when you say how often, but then you’re asking about specific number of days [in the response options], um….. I mean, so just say like how many days in the last week [in the item]”.—SP-001 |