Psychometric properties of the oral mucositis daily questionnaire in children with cancer

Methods: The population of the study consisted of 92 children aged between 8-18 years old who had been diagnosed with the cancer at Dokuz Eylül University of Nevvar-Salih İşgören Children's Hospital and Ege University Medical Faculty Hospital Pediatric Oncology and Hematology units. Data of the study were collected between February 2019-May 2019. The scale was reviewed for the content validity by 10 specialists. In evaluation of the data test repetition test, parallel form, kappa compliance analysis, correlation analysis, internal consistency analyses were used. Thirty children were included in the study at the test-retest reliability on the 14th and 15th days of chemotherapy treatment, the scale was administered by the researcher and the nurse. The International Child Mucositis Rating Scale (ICMRS) was applied in parallel form reliability. Findings: The patients of %46.7 included in the study were diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The mean age was 11.7±3.3 and 60.9% of patients were 8-12 years old. According to the World Health Organization Oral Mucositis Evaluation Scale, 55.4% of the patients had grade 1 mucositis. In the validity phase, the content validity index was calculated for the scores given by the experts according to Lawshe technique and the items were changed between .90 and 1.00. On the 14th and 15th days of chemotherapy treatment, the correlation values for each item of OMDQ were found to be over .73 (p <.001). OMDQ Cronbach Alpha Value was .92. When the correlation between the items of OMDQ was evaluated, all items showed a positive correlation with each other except for diarrhea questions (p<.001). Correlation analysis of similar items of OMDQ and ICMRS revealed a positive correlation (p< .001). Conclusion: Oral mucositis daily question form is a valid and reliable measurement instrument that is acquired in Turkish language as a result of the analyses and evaluations performed. Key Words: Cancer, Child, Oral Mucositis, Validity, Reliability.