Aims: This study aimed to develop and validate the psychometric properties of Information Needs Questionnaire for Differentiated Thyroid Cancer (INQ-DTC) in DTC patients with radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy.

Design: Mixed methods.

Methods: Using qualitative methods, we developed the initial questionnaire from a personal perspective of information needs of 15 patients with DTC. We used a formal Delphi consensus process to help assess the initial questionnaire and provide recommendations for its application. Totally, 230 DTC patients with RAI therapy were selected for the process of validation.

Results: The final version of INQ-DTC contains 33 items. The total Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.945, the total split-half reliability was 0.822, and the test-retest value was 0.984 for the overall score. Exploratory factor analysis extracted 5 factors, which could explain 61.86% of the total variance. The Scale-level content validity index (S-CVI) was 0.928, and 0.929 for the item-level content validity index (I-CVI).

Keywords: information needs; scale; thyroid neoplasms; validity.

© 2021 The Authors. Nursing Open published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.