Development and reliability testing of a symptom assessment scale for postoperative patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

Background

Patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) often experience pain, fatigue, decreased appetite, anxiety and depression, etc. Previous studies have focused on investigating a single symptom in patients with AIS, ignoring possible synergistic effects between symptoms, or using self-administered questionnaires that have not been scientifically evaluated.

Aims

To develop a symptom assessment scale for postoperative patients with AIS and test its reliability and validity.

Methods

Using the symptom experience model as the theoretical framework, we constructed a bank of scale items based on literature review and semi-structured interviews; formed the initial scale after 2 rounds of expert correspondence; and supplemented the descriptive definitions of each item through pre-surveys. To test the reliability of the scale, 175 postoperative AIS patients attending the department of spine and orthopedics in a tertiary hospital in Wuhan city were conveniently selected for a formal survey.

Results

The scale consisted of 24 items, and 5 common factors were extracted by exploratory factor analysis, with a cumulative variance contribution rate of 67.982 %; the content validity index of the scale was 0.875, and the content validity index of the items was 0.800–1.000; the overall Cronbach's α coefficient of the scale was 0.878, the folding reliability was 0.836, and the retest reliability was 0.947.

Conclusions

The symptom assessment scale for postoperative patients with AIS has demonstrated adequate reliability and validity, thus serving as a valid instrument for evaluating the postoperative symptom experience of patients with AIS.