Adaptation of the information and support needs questionnaire for Turkish women with first degree relatives with breast cancer

Aim: The aim of this study was to test the reliability and validity of The Information and Support Needs Questionnaire (ISNQ) for Turkish women, developed to describe the information and support needs of women who have primary relatives with breast cancer.Methods: This is a methodological study and included 97 women who had primary relatives with breast cancer and who presented to the chemotherapy unit and breast outpatient clinics of a state hospital. ISNQ was developed by Chalmers et al. in 2001. It is composed of two scales: Importance of Needs Scale and Meeting Needs Scale. Each scale is a Likert type scale made up 29 items and each item is rated between 1 and 4. Cronbach Alpha coefficient of Importance of Needs Scale and Meeting Needs Scale is .92 and .92 respectively; Spearman-Brown correlation coefficient of Importance of Needs Scale and Meeting Needs Scale is .80 and .74 respectively; test-retest coefficient of Importance of Needs Scale and Meeting Needs Scale is .79 and .73 respectively. The item-to-total score co-efficient of all items is above .33.Results: The language validity of the Turkish version of the scale was tested with translation-back translation method and content validity with expert opinions. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of Importance of Needs Scale and Meeting Needs Scale was .81 and .84 respectively; test-retest coefficient of Importance of Needs Scale and Meeting Needs Scale was .94 and .96 respectively; Spearman-Brown correlation coefficient of Importance of Needs Scale and Meeting Needs Scale was .79 and .80 respectively. The item-to-total score co-efficient of Importance of Needs Scale and Meeting Needs Scale ranged from .22 and .72 and from .23 and .60 respectively (p< .05).Conclusion and Recommendations: We found that ISNQ was valid and reliable enough to determine the importance of, and the degree to which information and support needs of women who have primary relatives with breast cancer were met.Key Words: Breast cancer risk, the ınformation and support needs, primary relatives, validity and reliability.