Abstract
Background
Multiple sclerosis patients are faced with numerous problems during their illness. Development of a self-report measure of health problems in multiple sclerosis patients is required based on cultural factors, `which can advance our understanding of the level of health problems for care planning and improvement of coping and quality of life. The current study aimed to develop and validate the scale of health problems of Multiple Sclerosis.
Methods
This present study is an exploratory sequential mixed method study that was conducted in three phases. In the first phase, the concept of health problems in MS patients was defined using the content analysis approach. In the second phase, the item pool was generated from findings of the first phase. In the third phase, psychometric properties of the scale were evaluated including face, content and construct validity as well as reliability.
Results
After examining the psychometric properties of validity and reliability, 33 items were designed in the final questionnaire. Factor analyses revealed five factors: physical problems, psychological problems, emotional problems, family problems, and socio-economic problems. Internal consistency and stability of the developed questionnaire confirmed with 0.93 and 0.95 respectively that indicated excellent reliability.
Conclusion
The 33-item developed questionnaire is valid and reliable for measurement of levels of health problems in Iranian people with MS.