On somatic symptoms measurement: the scale for assessment of somatic symptoms revisited.

Abstract

Background:Scale for assessment of somatic symptoms (SASS) has been widely used for assessing somatic complaints since many years. With impending changes in the classificatory system on somatoform disorders, we re- assessed the test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability of SASS.Materials and Methods:SASS was administered twice with a gap of 24 h on 20 subjects for test retest reliability. Two clinicians assessed inter-rater reliability on 20 subjects. Kendall tau B and Cronbach's alpha were calculated from the data.Results:All of the items except burning sensation, weakness of mind and trembling had strong correlation with values >±0.40 on both test retest and inter-rater reliability; burning sensation and trembling were not reported by any subject. On inter-rater reliability the items constipation, diarrhea, lack of libido weren’t scored by any subjects. Cronbach's alpha for test retest was 0.982 and 0.840 indicating good internal consistency.Conclusion:Majority of the symptoms in SASS had high correlation in both test retest reliability as well as inter-rater reliability, however few items needs revision.