Dorit Pud1. 1. Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. Electronic address: doritpud@research.haifa.ac.il.
Abstract
CONTEXT: To date, no report of the psychometric properties of the Hebrew version of the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS-Heb) has been available, which may be a barrier to comprehensively assessing symptom frequency, severity, and distress in Israeli patients with cancer. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to translate the MSAS into Hebrew and to evaluate the psychometric properties in Israeli patients with cancer. METHODS: The original 32-item MSAS was translated into Hebrew using the forward and backward procedure, and administered to female patients with early stage breast cancer (stages I-IIIA) who had received adjuvant chemotherapy. In addition, patients completed a demographic questionnaire, the Lee Fatigue Scale, the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, the General Sleep Disturbance Scale, a numeric rating scale for pain intensity, the Multidimensional Quality of Life Scale-Cancer and the Karnofsky Performance Status Scale. RESULTS: A sample of 110 patients was recruited (mean age 45.5 ± 10.1 years). The most frequent symptoms were hair loss (96.4%), lack of energy (88.2%) and "I do not look like myself" (80.9%), and the most infrequent were vomiting (7.3%), problems with urination (10.9%), and shortness of breath (20.9%). Cronbach alpha coefficients for the MSAS-Heb subscales (i.e., physical, psychological and global distress index) ranged from 0.78 to 0.90. All MSAS-Heb subscales and all the other questionnaires used in this study were significantly correlated (P < 0.0001), with expected directions. CONCLUSION: The MSAS-Heb is a valid and a reliable measure and should be a useful tool in the clinical arena and in future studies for evaluation of multiple symptoms in Israeli patients with cancer.
CONTEXT: To date, no report of the psychometric properties of the Hebrew version of the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS-Heb) has been available, which may be a barrier to comprehensively assessing symptom frequency, severity, and distress in Israeli patients with cancer. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to translate the MSAS into Hebrew and to evaluate the psychometric properties in Israeli patients with cancer. METHODS: The original 32-item MSAS was translated into Hebrew using the forward and backward procedure, and administered to female patients with early stage breast cancer (stages I-IIIA) who had received adjuvant chemotherapy. In addition, patients completed a demographic questionnaire, the Lee Fatigue Scale, the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale, the General Sleep Disturbance Scale, a numeric rating scale for pain intensity, the Multidimensional Quality of Life Scale-Cancer and the Karnofsky Performance Status Scale. RESULTS: A sample of 110 patients was recruited (mean age 45.5 ± 10.1 years). The most frequent symptoms were hair loss (96.4%), lack of energy (88.2%) and "I do not look like myself" (80.9%), and the most infrequent were vomiting (7.3%), problems with urination (10.9%), and shortness of breath (20.9%). Cronbach alpha coefficients for the MSAS-Heb subscales (i.e., physical, psychological and global distress index) ranged from 0.78 to 0.90. All MSAS-Heb subscales and all the other questionnaires used in this study were significantly correlated (P < 0.0001), with expected directions. CONCLUSION: The MSAS-Heb is a valid and a reliable measure and should be a useful tool in the clinical arena and in future studies for evaluation of multiple symptoms in Israeli patients with cancer.
Authors: Alissa Nolden; Paule V Joseph; Kord M Kober; Bruce A Cooper; Steven M Paul; Marilyn J Hammer; Laura B Dunn; Yvette P Conley; Jon D Levine; Christine Miaskowski Journal: J Pain Symptom Manage Date: 2019-07-23 Impact factor: 3.612