Development and Evaluation of the Psychosocial Adaptation Questionnaire among Patients with Chronic Skin Disease

Chronic skin disease (CSD) often has physiological, psychological, and social impacts, which requires the patient to adjust to achieve psychosocial adaptation (PSA). As a standardized assessment instrument was lacking, we developed a PSA questionnaire for patients with CSD (PSAQ-CSD).

According to the steps of questionnaire development, a systematic process of scoping review, qualitative research, content validity expert review, testing in a sample of 321 adults, item analysis, and classical test theory methods were applied.

Following item analysis and exploratory factor analyses, 18 items were eventually entered into the model of confirmatory factor analyses, with a cumulative contribution of 65.435%. Three subscales were developed: emotional, self-cognitive, and social dimensions. Item analysis, exploratory factor analyses, and content validity expert review narrowed the subscales to 8, 6, and 4 items, respectively.

The 18-item PSAQ-CSD has been confirmed to have good internal consistency reliability and convergent and discriminant validity. It may be a useful tool to evaluate the PSA among patients with CSD and provide a basis for further research.