Validity and reliability study of the gastrointestinal symptom rating scale Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) version and Visceral Sensitivity Index in patients with irritable bowel syndrome

The aim of this research, planned methodologically and descriptively, is to study the validity and reliability of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome-Specific Symptom Questionnaire and Visceral Sensitivity Index in Turkish society. The research sample consisted of 170 volunteer patients who were diagnosed with IBS and met the inclusion criteria in the gastroenterology outpatient clinic and clinic of a university hospital. Research data were collected using the face-to-face interview technique with a personal information form that inquires about the sociodemographic and disease-related characteristics of the patients, The Irritable Bowel Syndrome Quality of Life Scale, The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, The Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale-Irritable Bowel Syndrome Version (GSRS-IBS), and the Visceral Sensitivity Index (VSI). In the validity analysis, language validity, content validity, construct validity, and criterion validity were evaluated. In the reliability analysis, cronbach's alpha coefficient and item-total score correlation for item analysis were calculated. The content validity criterion was found to be 1.00 for the Content Validity Ratio. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value was calculated as 0.809 for GSRS-IBS and 0.929 for VSI. It is observed that the factor loadings for all items of GSRS-IBS range from 0.75 to 0.91, and for VSI, they range from 0.52 to 0.80. It has been confirmed that the 5-factor GSRS-IBS and the single-factor VSI show good fit with the original model. The item-total correlation levels for GSRS-IBS range between 0.372 and 0.621, and for VSI, they range between 0.455 and 0.753. The cronbach's alpha value was found to be 0.76 for GSRS-IBS and 0.90 for VSI. The Turkish version of GSRS-IBS, which measures symptoms and their severity in IBS patients, and VSI, which measures anxiety related to symptoms, are valid and reliable tools.