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Psychometric Evaluation of the Chinese Breast Cancer Prevention Trial Symptom Scale
Ching-Fen Tsai1, Pei-Shan Tsai, Chien-Liang Liu
1Author Affiliations: Nursing Department, Mackay Memorial Hospital-Tamsui (Ms Tsai); Mackay Junior College of Medicine, Nursing, and Management (Ms Tsai and Dr Liu); School of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University (Ms Tsai, Dr Tsai, Dr Lin, and Dr Liao); Sleep Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital (Dr Tsai); Department of Nursing, Taipei Municipal WanFang Hospital (Dr Tsai); Department of Surgery, Mackay Memorial Hospital-Taipei, (Dr Liu); Department of Medicine, MacKay Medical College (Dr Liu), Taipei; Biostatistics Center, Taipei Medical University (Dr Lin), Taiwan; Health Outcomes and Pharmacy Practice Division, College of Pharmacy, University of Texas (Dr Ling), Austin; Pharmerit International (Dr Ling), Bethesda, Maryland; School of Gerontology Health Management, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University (Ms Tseng); and Institute of Clinical Nursing, School of Nursing, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan (Dr Liao).
Background:
Women with breast cancer experience a wide spectrum of symptoms after diagnosis and treatment. Symptoms experienced by this specific population might not be fully assessed using available traditional Chinese-language symptom measures.
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to examine the latent constructs and psychometric properties of the Chinese Breast Cancer Prevention Trial (C-BCPT) Symptom Scale.
Methods:
Two hundred women with breast cancer were recruited in Taiwan. Psychometric properties, including construct validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability, of the C-BCPT Symptom Scale were tested after translating the original instrument.
Results:
A 21-item C-BCPT Symptom Scale, with 7 extracted factors accounting for 72.26% of the total variance, resulted from an exploratory factor analysis. Construct validity was confirmed by significant correlations between scores on the C-BCPT Symptom Scale and the Taiwan-version Short Form-36 Health Survey (r = -0.49 to -0.53)/Greene Climacteric Scale (r = 0.81). Reliability coefficients for the overall scale/6 extracted factors (Cronbach's α = 0.72-0.88) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.77-0.94) of the translated instrument were satisfactory, whereas 1 reliability coefficient for 1 extracted factor was inadequate (Cronbach's α = 0.57).
Conclusion:
An interpretable structure with preliminary acceptable psychometric properties of the C-BCPT Symptom Scale was obtained; the C-BCPT can help traditional Chinese-speaking healthcare professionals perform adequate assessments of the symptoms experienced by women with breast cancer.
Implications For Practice:
The C-BCPT Symptom Scale can be used in clinical practice and research to assess symptoms experienced by this specific population or effects of related interventions.
