Reliability and Validity of the Korean Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale—Short Form in Gynecological Cancer Patients

Abstract

ContextSymptoms of patients with cancer need to be evaluated with a standard instrument. The Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale-Short Form (MSAS-SF) is a symptom assessment tool that has been validated in many languages. ObjectivesThe aim of the present study was to validate the Korean-version Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale—Short Form (MSAS-SF) in patients with gynecologic cancer. MethodsWe translated the MSAS-SF into Korean, and 175 gynecologic cancer inpatients completed the MSAS-SF, Functional Assessment Cancer Therapy—General (FACT-G), and gathered demographic and clinical data and Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS). Reliability was assessed for internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Pearson's correlation coefficient was calculated between the MSAS-SF and FACT-G subscales for convergent validity. T-test analysis was used to compare differences in MSAS-SF subscales by cancer stage and KPS for discriminant validity. ResultsThe Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the MSAS-SF subscales ranged from 0.80 to 0.91. The Korean-version MSAS-SF subscales showed convergent validity with FACT-G subscales. The correlation coefficients were −0.640 (P < 0.001) and −0.628 (P < 0.001) for global distress index and total MSAS score with FACT-G total score. The scores of MSAS-SF subscales showed appropriate differences by cancer stage and KPS. ConclusionThe Korean-version MSAS-SF is a valid tool for the reliable assessment of patients with gynecologic cancer in Korea.