Psychometric Evaluation of the Turkish Version of the Heart Failure Somatic Perception Scale

The Heart Failure Somatic Perception Scale (HFSPS) is an 18-item scale used to evaluate the severity of common signs and symptoms of heart failure (HF) in patients. To date, psychometric properties of the HFSPS have been tested in samples of Japanese, Spanish, Farsi, Italian, and Arabic speakers.

In this study, our aim was to determine the validity and reliability of the HFSPS in a Turkish population of patients with HF.

This study was a cross-cultural adaptation of the HFSPS to evaluate its psychometric properties in a Turkish population diagnosed with HF, in accordance with the methodology and recommendations of the International Commission on Testing.

A total of 228 patients were included. The mean age of patients was 67.08 ± 8.53 years, and the mean duration of disease was 4.3 ± 2.9 years. Confirmatory factor analysis testing of the 4-factor (dyspnea, chest discomfort, early and subtle, edema) structure of the original HFSPS resulted in supportive fit indices. Confirmatory factor analysis findings showed that the factor loadings of the model indicated that the items had strong and significant relationships with relevant factors (P < .001 for all items). Cronbach's α reliability coefficients of the scale were calculated as 0.92. A positive moderate correlation of r = 0.887 (P < .001) was found between the HFSPS and the Minnesota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire.

The findings of this study indicate that the scale is valid and reliable for use in Turkish patients with HF.