Psychometric evaluation of the medical outcomes study-sleep scale in persons with overactive bladder

The Medical Outcomes Study-Sleep Scale (MOS-SS) is a commonly used self-reported instrument for assessing key constructs of sleep quality and quantity. Even though the MOS-SS has successfully undergone previous validation studies in the general population, it has not been evaluated in patients with overactive bladder (OAB).

The aim of this study is to evaluate the applicability of the MOS-SS to persons with a diagnosis of OAB.

This study was a follow-up to a national nested case-control survey designed to provide estimates of the prevalence of OAB in the United States. OAB patients (N = 363) who consented to participate were mailed a postal survey to assess OAB symptoms and health-related quality of life. Analyses were then undertaken to assess the psychometric properties of the MOS-SS in this OAB sample. Psychometric evaluation of the MOS-SS included construct validity, internal consistency reliability, correlation between domains, floor/ceiling effects, and an examination of the factor structure. Results were compared with the original validation population of the MOS-SS by .

Internal consistency, correlations between domains, and floor/ceiling effects were generally consistent with results from the original validation study. Factor loadings of the MOS-SS items, as well as tests of construct validity, were similar between persons with OAB and individuals in the original validation population.

Psychometric evaluation conducted in this study supports the use of the MOS-SS instrument to assess sleep problems among persons with OAB.