A brief measure of patients self-reported chemotherapy-related memory problem: Psychometric studies

Abstract

19655 Background: Memory is a central component of individuals’ functional systems of behavior, (i.e., cognition, emotionality, and executive functioning) that can be deleteriously affected by cancer treatment. It is important to identify and understand the effects of cancer treatment on memory in order to develop effective interventions to ameliorate these problems. This study involves structural and reliability analyses of a brief measure of chemotherapy-related memory problem to facilitate prompt and reliable preliminary assessments in oncology research and practice. Methods: Patients (N = 821) included in this analysis were part of a larger randomized clinical trial on cancer-related fatigue. These patients completed the Fatigue Symptom Checklist (FSCL) at four time points. Five items from the FSCL that assess memory problems were aggregated into a brief self-report memory problem measure (SRMP). Results: Reliability assessment of the SRMP revealed a Cronbach coefficient alpha of 0.90. The data was found suitable for latent structure analysis using various criteria: Kaiser-Myer-Olkin, Bartlett’s Test of sphericity, Kaiser’s (1959) simplest criterion test of γ >1, and the presence of item-correlation coefficients of r = .30. Principal components analysis showed one component with eigenvalue (γ) exceeding 1, that explained 72% of the variance. Subsequent reliability assessments of the SRMP revealed Cronbach coefficients alpha of 0.90 and above, all with a single component explaining 71.36% to 73.36% of the variances. Conclusions: The results supported the use of the SRMP as a reliable one- dimensional measure of cancer treatment-related memory problem. The SMRP could be used for preliminary assessment of possible underlying memory problems that might need further examinations. Studies to establish the construct validity of the SRMP are under way. Supported by NCI grant R25CA102618. No significant financial relationships to disclose.