# Development and Validation of a Patient Reported Experience Measure for VA Women's Health Care

> **NIH VA I01** · VA PUGET SOUND HEALTHCARE SYSTEM · 2022 · —

## Abstract

Background: Patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) are process measures that focus on the
interpersonal aspects of the care, and increasingly used to measure care quality and address inequities. The
number of women Veterans using VA health care continues to increase. In fiscal year 2015 over 400,000
women Veterans used VA health care. Women Veterans using VA health care are increasingly diverse in
terms of race/ethnicity and sexual orientation and gender identity, have complex medical and mental health
care needs, and a high prevalence of sexual trauma, including military sexual trauma (MST). These
characteristics and experiences, which are often overlapping, shape their experiences of health care within VA ,
which in turn influence patient-reported and clinical outcomes of care.
Significance: The proposed study will develop the first patient-reported experiences measure (PREM)
designed specifically to quantify women Veterans’ experiences with VA health care (WV_PREM). WV_PREM
can be used to monitor and inform on-going patient-centered quality improvement efforts such as the Women’s
Health PACT and anti-harrassment initiative in VA through partnerships with API and WHS. It will also enable
examination of equity in VA care across a variety of patient demographics including race/ethnicity and
gender/sexual orientation.
Innovation & Impact: This proposal is innovative due to its focus on patient experience and active
engagement of Veterans in the measure development process, and by intentionally incorporating diverse
voices of women Veterans, particularly those with marginalized identities. Unlike current PREMs used in VA,
WV_PREM will include domains of patient experience in VA that are uniquely important to women Veterans
such as safety, respect, and discrimination. WV_PREM will be a unique tool for monitoring the quality and
equity of VA reproductive health care and informing and accelerating quality improvement efforts.
Specific Aims:
1. Identify constructs salient to the experience of women Veterans using VA health care through a series of
 semi-structured interviews with diverse women Veterans with different health care needs.
2. Generate a preliminary WV_PREM instrument based on findings from Aim 1 and literature review of
 existing measures. Consensus on items and content validity will be reached using review and feedback
 from Veterans and VA stakeholders; clarity will be determined via cognitive interviews.
3. Psychometrically evaluate WV_PREM in a cohort of 600 women Veterans receiving health care at VA to
 refine the measure, assess and confirm the factor structure, and test construct validity.
Methodology: This proposal will use a sequential mixed methods approach. Aim 1 involves a series of semi-
structured interviews with women Veterans who used VA health care. Aim 2 will in clude development of a
preliminary PREM based on Aim 1 findings, and refinement based on iterative review and feedback from
Veteran focus groups, review by ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10426011
- **Project number:** 1I01HX003449-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** VA PUGET SOUND HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
- **Principal Investigator:** Jodie Katon
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-05-01 → 2026-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10426011

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10426011, Development and Validation of a Patient Reported Experience Measure for VA Women's Health Care (1I01HX003449-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10426011. Licensed CC0.

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