[Development of the quality of life scale specific for patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia]

To develop a specific quality of life (QOL) scale for Chinese patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

The scale was developed with the programmed decision methods. The item pool was certified by experts. Five methods were used in item selection after a pilot study for which 256 BPH patients had been recruited. The scale was evaluated by its reliability and validity.

We formed a 27-item quality of life scale specific for patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia prior test version (BPHSQL). The test-retest correlation coefficient and Cronbach's alpha coefficient of BPHSQL were 0. 774 and 0. 945. The structure of the scale was similar to the theory construction. The scale's correlation coefficients with criteria ranged from 0.531 to 0.700. BPHSQL could well discriminate the quality of life between BPH and non-BPH patients as well as patients with different degrees of symptoms, different sources and patients with or without urethral catheters.

BPHSQL is reliable, valid and sensitive, and will be a convenient tool in clinical research to provide advice on different treatments for different patients.