Abstract
This study developed a comprehensive measurement tool for assessing dyspnea in cancer patients and examined its reliability and validity. This cross-sectional study included 239 cancer patients with awareness of cancer-related dyspnea from outpatient/inpatient wards of six general hospitals in Japan. Items for the Total Dyspnea Scale for Cancer Patients (TDSC) were developed based on qualitative research and a literature review on patients with dyspnea. Ten cancer experts confirmed the scale's content validity. Factor analysis established construct validity. Internal consistency was analyzed by Cronbach's α. Study variables were the effects of dyspnea, worry, and quality of life. Factor analysis identified 2 factors (11 items): effects on "daily living activities and psychology" and on "social life." Cronbach's α of the whole scale was 0.952 (p < 0.01), confirming high reliability. The scale showed high correlation with existing measures. TDSC can comprehensively and multidimensionally evaluate cancer-related dyspnea. The TDSC consists of 11 items within two factors. Cronbach's α coefficient of the scale was 0.952 in this study, and thus, an acceptable level of reliability was confirmed. In addition, reference-related validity and discriminant validity were verified and confirmed. In future clinical practice, this scale can be utilized as a useful tool for comprehensively and multidimensionally evaluating cancer-related dyspnea.
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