A study on the reliability and validity of the Bodily Distress Syndrome Checklist (Chinese version) in outpatients in one general hospital in China

Abstract

Objective To test the reliability and validity of Chinese version of Bodily Distress Syndrome Checklist (BDS Checklist) in Chinese patients. Method A total of 380 patients who visited their doctors in Huaxi Hospital in China were recruited into the study through a convenience sampling. The internal consistency of BDS Checklist was analyzed with Cronbach′s α and the convergence of BDS Checklist was measured with Spearman′s r. Principal component analysis (PFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were conducted to explorethe structural validity of BDS Checklist. Pearson correlation coefficients (PCCs) were calculated to test the discrimination validity (vs. Patient Health Questionaire-9 (PHQ-9) , Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Whiteley-8 Scale (WI-8) ) and the convergent validity (vs. Patient Health Questionaire-15 (PHQ-15) and Somatic Symptom Scale-8 (SSS-8) ). Result 369 questionnaire sets were included in the final analysis. The Cronbach′s α of the BDS Checklist was 0.919; Spearman′s correlation coefficients (SCCs) between the individual item and the total score were within 0.390~0.708 (P<0.001); SCCs between the each subscale and the total score were within 0.719~0.845 (P<0.001); 4 factors were identified by the EFA. The PCCs between BDS Checklist and PHQ-15, SSS-8, PHQ-9, GAD -7, WI-8 were 0.739, 0.812, 0.609, 0.594 and 0.625 accordingly (P<0.001 for all). Conclusion BDS checklist may have pretty high reliability and validity in Chinese patients in the general hospitals in China. Key words: Somatoform disorders; Somatic symptom disorder; Reproducibility of results