Reliability and Validity Testing of the Taiwan-version BCPT Symptom Scales

• Main Authors: Ching-Fen Tsai, 蔡青芬
• Other Authors: 廖媛美
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/5782bb

碩士 === 臺北醫學大學 === 護理學研究所 === 102 === Background: Breast cancer patients receiving disease related treatments might trigger early onset of menopause and lead to early exposure of menopause related symptoms. Well symptom management is relay on comprehensive symptom assessments. Chinese-language symptom assessment scales common used among cancer patients seldom include the content of menopause related symptoms. Symptoms experienced by breast cancer patients might not be well assessed and managed. Objective: To generate the Taiwan-version BCPT Symptom Scales and to test its reliability and validity. Methods: After the generation of the Taiwan-version BCPT symptom scales, reliability and validity of the Taiwan-version instrument were tested. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to identify possible factorial structure of the Taiwan-version BCPT symptom scales. The Taiwan-version Short Form-36 (SF-36) Health Survey and Greene Climacteric Symptom Scale were used to test the construct validity of the Taiwan-version BCPT symptom scales. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) and Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) were used to test the reliability of the Taiwan-version BCPT symptom scales. Results: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) extracted eight factors from the 19-item Taiwan-version BCPT symptom scales and explained 81.44% of the total variance. Factor loadings of the items in each factor ranged from .612 to .916. Significant, moderate negative correlations were found between the Taiwan-version BCPT symptom scales and Taiwan-version SF-36 Health Survey at both the physical (r = -.489, p < .01) and psychological dimensions (r = -.523, p <.01). Significant, high positive correlation (r = .792, p <.01) was found between the Taiwan-version BCPT symptom scales and Greene Climacteric Symptom Scale. These results confirmed the construct validity of the Taiwan-version instrument. Based on the EFA result, we estimate the internal consistency of the Taiwan-version instrument (19 items) by calculating Cronbach’s alpha values: total scale .88, eight subscales (factors) .72 to .87. For the test-retest reliability, the ICC value(s) for the total scale was .935 and for the eight subscales (factors) ranged from .694 to .935. Conclusions: The Taiwan-version BCPT symptom scales which could be used by Taiwanese health care providers to assess symptoms experienced by breast cancer patients was generated. Eight factors were extracted from the 19-item Taiwan-version instrument by EFA and explained 81.44% of the total variance. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the Taiwan-version instrument were satisfactory. Construct validity of the Taiwan-version instrument was initially confirmed by testing Pearson correlation coefficients with other instruments which possess adequate reliability and validity. The Taiwan-version BCPT symptom scales could be used to investigate bothersome symptoms experienced by breast cancer patients. Health care providers would possess better opportunities to provide adequate healthcare services. The Taiwan-version instrument could be used in further clinical research. Eventually, the comparison of study results from different countries would be feasible and the possibility of conducting cross-national and cross-cultural research could be increased.