IJHR Open Access Abstract Background and Objectives: Questionnaire-based survey is the most common way of assessing patient sat- isfaction. However, most relevant survey instruments have been developed in western countries, and valid and reliable context-specifc survey tools in this area are lacking. To help flling this gap, in this study we have devel- oped and validated the preliminary version of the novel Brief Inpatient Satisfaction Scale (BISS) to be used in an Iranian context. Methods: Initially 32 items were included by reviewing different aspects of patient satisfaction in the literature. A sample of 637 patients from Moheb hospital (Tehran, Iran) was surveyed for the purpose of instrument evaluation in autumn of 2013. In various steps of scale development, 6 items were discarded due to psychometric reasons. Content validity was examined by seeking experts’ opinions, the internal consistency reliability by Cronbach’s alpha, and the construct validity was tested using correlation analysis. Findings: A 26-item survey for measuring patient satisfaction in an Iranian context was developed. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a four-factor solution. The extracted factors were named physician care, nursing care, living arrangements, and communication. Two factors were perfectly loaded while two others showed cross-load- ings. An internal consistency reliability of 0.91 was observed for the entire instrument. The subscales showed alpha coeffcients of 0.85, 0.86, 0.75, and 0.71, respectively. Conclusions: The preliminary version of BISS could be used to evaluate patient satisfaction in an Iranian context with adequate reliability. Further improvement should focus on improving the reliability of living arrange- ments, and communication dimensions. Keywords: Patient satisfaction; Survey Instrument Development; Brief Inpatient Satisfaction Scale (BISS); Va- lidity; Reliability Background and Objectives Patient satisfaction is an outcome of various factors in a hospital [1]. It can be considered as a condition in which patients feel comfortable in their stay in the hospital. While medical care plays a vital role in patient satisfac- tion, other situational factors are important as well [2]. Some authors consider patient satisfaction as a key to the success of the hospitals [3]. Moreover, this variable is of absolute importance in quality-assessment activities as its comprehensive analysis can highlight noble and prob- lematic aspects of each hospital. In a study across 21 European countries, it was concluded that predictors of patient satisfaction with the healthcare system were patient experience by responsiveness domains, patient expectations, self- reported health status, type of care by provider type, personality, and vignette score, respectively [4]. High levels of satisfaction suggest physical and psycho- logical improvement of the patients while low levels of satisfaction is predictive of agitation, anxiety, longer stay in hospital, and consequently, higher charges [5]. Patient satisfaction seems to be a continuous con- struct, resulting from emotional reactions and cogni- tive evaluations of the patient during his/her stay in the hospital. Nowadays, evaluation of the level of pa- tient satisfaction is recognized as an important index of the healthcare quality, and plans for its improve- Development and Validation of the Preliminary Version of Brief Inpatient Satisfaction Scale (BISS) Maryam Atari 1,2 , Saeed Akbari Zardkhaneh 3 , Mohammad Atari 4* , Negin Naderi-far 5 1 Faculty of Management, University of Tehran, Iran 2 Quality Improvement Offce, Moheb Hospital, Tehran, Iran 3 Department of Assessment and Mea- surement, Faculty of Psychology and Education, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran 4 Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran 5 Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran *Corresponding author: Mohammad Atari, Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran, Tel: +98-912-6363263, Fax: +98- 21-88091233, Email: atari@ut.ac.ir International Journal of Hospital Research 2013, 3(1):43-48 www.ijhr.iums.ac.ir RESEARCH ARTICLE © 2014 Atari et al.; licensee Iran University of Medical Sciences. This is an Open Access article distributed under a Creative Com- mons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which allows unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original work is cited properly.