Patient requests in primary health care settings: development and validation of a research instrument.

The development of the Primary Care Patient Request Scale and factor analytic and validation data from four diverse clinic samples are reported. The factor analysis yielded five plausible request dimensions: Treatment of Psychosocial Problems, Medical Explanation, Supportive Communication, Test Results, and Ventilation and Legitimation. The construct validity of the instrument was tentatively supported by the ability of the factor scales to discriminate consistently among the nature of the presenting complaint, the type of primary care clinic, and the marital status of the patient. Establishment of the clinical and research utility of the Primary Care Patient Request Scale awaits further efforts at cross-validation.