PHEI-R: Respondent Questionnaire Feasibility

Public research brief · Version 0.1 · 2 October 2026

PHEI-R denotes the PerdanaHealth Equity Index Respondent Questionnaire. The first proposed study asks a practical question: can a respondent questionnaire be understood, completed and administered acceptably in a Malaysian primary-care setting?

Proposed first study

• Design: A bounded, single-site, cross-sectional feasibility and acceptability study.
• Participants: Approximately 30–50 consenting adults attending an authorised clinic, subject to the final protocol and ethics determination.
• Primary endpoint: Questionnaire completion, with the definition of a completed response fixed before data collection.
• Secondary measures: Recruitment yield, completion time, item-level missingness, assistance required, and participant and staff acceptability.

These are proposed design parameters, not achieved recruitment or study results. A feasibility sample is intended to improve the instrument and workflow; it is not evidence of national representativeness or completed psychometric validation.

What the study would produce

The study would generate a documented assessment of burden, comprehension and practical administration. A revised questionnaire and workflow would then inform a separately justified validation plan, rather than an automatic national rollout.

• Instrument record: Construct definitions, dated items, response options, language versions and adaptation notes.
• Implementation record: Recruitment log, administration procedure, deviations and assistance required.
• Analysis record: Pre-specified denominators, completion and missingness measures, uncertainty and a clear account of limitations.
• Revision decision: Retain, revise or remove items based on the agreed evidence and review process.

Measurement properties depend on the target population, construct and intended use; they require explicit study design rather than inference from a framework's name (COSMIN study-design checklist).

Governance before recruitment

Written site permission, a formal ethics determination, participant information and consent materials, a data-management plan and a defined escalation route must precede participant contact. No participating clinic is announced in this public brief.

Identifiers should be separated from analysis data where required, with access limited to authorised roles. Public reports should use de-identified, appropriately aggregated findings with controls for small groups.

Relationship to the wider programme

PHEI-R is a research instrument, not a care package or payment product. It is distinct from PHEI-WSR, which concerns the healthcare workforce, and from area-level equity measurement.

The Perdana Determinants can inform the questions worth investigating. They do not establish the validity of PHEI-R scores or replace independent methodological review.