Improvement of the comfort perception scale in oral mucositis

The study was conducted to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool for determining the comfort perceptions of patients with oral mucositis.

The study was carried out methodologically between April 2017 and October 2019 in outpatient chemotherapy centers and clinics in which malignant patients were treated in a university hospital and educational-research hospital in Erzurum, Turkey of the study sample comprised 380 patients who developed oral mucositis after treatment. A 'Patient Identification Information Form,' draft 'Comfort Perception Scale in Oral Mucositis' and 'General Comfort Scale' were used to collect the study data. Validity and reliability analyses were used when evaluating the data. Percentage, mean, independent groups t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, variance analysis and advanced analyzes were also used.

In this study, while the face validity of the scale was obtained, the content validity index was found to be 0.62 Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value of the scale for explanatory factor analysis was 0.94, and Bartlett's test x2 = 9142.156 (P < 0.05). For the confirmatory factor analysis, the corrected chi-square value was 3.54, the root-mean-square error was 0.082, and the scale structure was confirmed according to these results. As a result, the scale consisted of 31 items and 2 sub-scales. Item-total correlation values ranged from 0.83 to 0.33. As a result of similar scale validity, a significant negative correlation was found between the Comfort Perception Scale in Oral Mucositis and General Comfort Scale scores (P < 0.05).

The Comfort Perception Scale in Oral Mucositis is a reliable and valid scale. In this study, it was determined that patient comfort was affected according to some variables.