Reliability and validity of the spanish version of the “Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale” in oncology patients

Abstract

The Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale (MSAS) is a multidimensional tool developed to evaluate frequency, severity and distress of common symptoms present in cancer patients. The objective of this project was to translate the original English version of MSAS and prove the reliability and validity of the Spanish version. MSAS scale was translated into Spanish and administered to 246 cancer patients aged between 18 and 85. They attended the Day Hospital to receive chemotherapy. European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core-30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and Rotterdam Symptom Checklist (RSCL) were used to test criterion validity. The results obtained were that TOTAL MSAS, physical symptom subscale (PHYS), psychological symptom subscale (PSYCH) and global distress index (GDI) reported high internal consistency: 0.891; 0.801; 0.825; 0.813 respectively. Exploratory factor analysis identified two factors structure and confirmatory factor analysis showed good adjustment rates. The emotional functioning subscale of EORTC QLQ-C30 highly correlated with PSYCH (r=-0.868; p<0.001) and GDI (r=-0.810; p<0.001) while social functioning subscale correlated with PSYCH (r=-0.704; p<0.001) and GDI (r=-0.624; p<0.001). The physical symptoms subscale of RSCL correlated with PHYS (r=0.876; p<0.001) and the psychological symptoms subscale with PSYCH (r=0.872; p<0.001). the conclusion