In subsequent group discussions, the long lists of items are reduced to short lists that form the basis of the first draft of a questionnaire.
The first draft of a questionnaire including 73 items was given to the expert group, and then revised accordingly, with the expert group supplying new comments by email.
Further steps at this stage are designing the study, performing biostatistics defining the number of samples needed, drafting a questionnaire for the study subjects (if necessary), and finally applying for ethical clearance.
For example, after the expert panels, during the drafting of initial questionnaire items, we often discussed a particular series of questions with the expert panel member who focused the corresponding discussion during the meeting.
Extensive local and international literature survey was done prior to drafting of the questionnaire.
Before the final drafting of the questionnaire, it was made available for survey experts and some relevant stakeholders to provide some reviews before the final draft.
In stage 1, we drafted a questionnaire consisting of "can do" statements.
This editing occurred in meetings of a working group, which were held to edit and develop a draft of the questionnaire, including its categories and structure of statements.
This led to a final draft of the questionnaire, which was tested in a new sample of patients in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Porto Alegre, Brazil; Concepción, Chile; Granada, Spain Lisbon, Portugall; and London, England, using the appropriate versions in Spanish, Portuguese and English.
A draft of the questionnaire was developed on the basis of input from patient focus groups.
