Validity and reliability study of James Supportive Care Screening for cancer patients

The study was conducted in order to determine the validity and reliability of James Supportive Care Screening developed by Wells-Di Gregorio and his friends (2013) by applying it to Turkish society to measure the distress experienced by patients who were diagnosed as cancer. The study was conducted in Tülay Aktaş Hospital of Oncology contained within Ege University, Faculty of Medicine. The population of the study was chemotherapy outpatients applied to Tülay Aktaş Hospital of Oncology. 280 patients with cancer diagnoses who volunteered to join and met the participation criteria of the study made up the research sample. Descriptive Information Form, James Supportive Care Screening and EORTC QLQ-C30 Quality of Life Scale which was used for criterion validity, were used as data collecting tools. First translation to Turkish and re-translation of the screening was done for language validity in the validity study of James Supportive Care Screening. After providing the language validity, the screening scale was submitted for expertise for content validity. Expertise was evaluated by Davis technique. According to experts Content Validity Index (CVI) of all items was above the required value 0.80 (CVI>0.80). After the pre-application of the scale, data was collected via face to face interviews. The answers provided by the subjects were marked by the researcher on the scale. Principal Component Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were used for construct validity of the scale. Through the Principal Component Analysis, the scale was compress as six-factors, complying with the original scale. CFA fit indices values (x2/df=2.073, RMSEA=0.62, CFI=0.91, NFI=0.90, NNFI=0.91, SRMR=0.07, GFI=0.90) were determined as sufficient for providing construct validity. For criterion validity of the scale; it was found negative relation between Emotional Concerns sub-dimension of the scale and Emotional Function rating of equivalent scale, negative relation between Cognitive Concerns subscale of the scale and Comprehensive Function rating of the equivalent scale. In addition it was found a positive relation between Physical Symptom subscale of the scale and Symptom Scale of the equivalent scale. Based on these findings; James Supportive Care Screening is a valid scaling tool for Turkish society. For reliability studies of James Supportive Care Screening, first correlations between items and total scores were evaluated. Correlation point of item 28 (r=0.068) was found to be below the minimum required value of 0.20 and calculated p value for correlation of item 28 found statistically insignificant (r=0.068, p=0.253). Dismiss of the article was not preferred to avoid disruption of original theoretical structure of the scale and because there was no significant difference in Cronbach alpha of the scale in case of dismissal. Cronbach alpha value of the scale was found to be 0.918 while subscale Cronbach alpha values were between 0.549 and 0.875. In order to determine the stability of James Supportive Care Screening, scale was applied to 30 patients two weeks later than the first application and article total score correlations were compared. When the first and last results were examined, a significant relation was seen between subscale total scores and scale total scores (p<0.01). According to these findings, James Supportive Care Screening is a reliable measurement tool which fits Turkish society. In conclusion; "James Supportive Care Screening" is a valid and reliable measurement tool for Turkish society. Keywords: Cancer, Distress, Validity, Reliability