The Turkish Validity and Reliability Study of Palliative Performance Scale

The Palliative Performance Scale version 2 (PPSv2) is a useful tool designed to assess the performance status of palliative care patients. The aim of this study was to translate the PPSv2 into Turkish and to test the validity and reliability of Turkish PPSv2 (PPS-TR) in cancer patients receiving palliative care.

The translation of PPSv2 into Turkish was implemented using a forward-back forward procedure. The patients were allocated from inpatient palliative care unit, consultations from oncology services, palliative care polyclinic, and consultations from emergency unit. The inter-rater and intra-rater reliabilities were tested in a pilot study with 51 patients. The cross-sectional study consisted of 280 patients. The relationship between PPS-TR, Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (Katz ADL), and Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) was also measured. Construct validity was assessed by observing the test capacity across patient groups based on the place of care.

Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) at Time 1 and Time 2 were 0.982 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.972-0.989) and 0.991 (95% CI: 0.986-0.995). ICCs of intra-rater agreements were at least 0.956 (95% CI: 0.909-0.977) for three raters. KPS, Katz ADL, and PPS-TR scores of outpatients were significantly higher than those of inpatients and emergency. There was a perfect correlation between PPS-TR and KPS, while the correlation of PPS-TR with Katz ADL was almost perfect.

The PPS-TR is a reliable and valid tool for assessment of performance status of cancer patients receiving palliative care.