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Psychometric testing of the Impact of Event Scale-Chinese Version (IES-C) in oral cancer patients in Taiwan

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Abstract

Goals of work

No culturally relevant instrument exists to assess the impact of cancer on patients in Taiwan. Therefore, this two-phase study was undertaken to (1) develop a Chinese version of the Impact of Event Scale (IES), (2) examine its psychometric properties, and (3) use the IES-Chinese version (IES-C) to assess the impact of cancer in newly diagnosed oral cancer patients in Taiwan.

Patients and methods

The psychometric properties of the 15-item IES-C were tested in 106 newly diagnosed oral cancer patients and analyzed by descriptive statistics, test–retest reliability, Pearson’s correlation, and principal component analysis.

Main results

The results showed that (1) the IES-C has satisfactory content validity and feasibility; (2) overall internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) was 0.91 with values of 0.91 and 0.81 for intrusion and avoidance, respectively; (3) overall test–retest reliability (3-day interval) was 0.97; (4) two clearly identified factors explained 55.97% of the variance; (5) satisfactory construct validity was supported by both factor analysis and theoretically supported correlation analysis (significant correlations between the total IES-C and its subscales as well as anxiety and depression); and (6) oral cancer patients had relatively higher IES-C scores than previously reported.

Conclusion

These results support the IES-C as an instrument with satisfactory psychometric properties and ease of use in clinical settings. They also suggest that more attention should be paid to the impact on patients of a new diagnosis of oral cancer. Further testing of the IES-C in different cancer populations is suggested to validate its psychometric properties.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by a grant to Dr. Yeur-Hur Lai from the National Science Council of Taiwan. The authors thank Dr. Horowitz for his permission to translate the Impact of Event Scale and all the study participants for sharing their experiences. The authors also thank Claire Baldwin for her English editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Shu-Ching Chen

  2. Department of Nursing, Chang Gung Institute of Technology, Taoyuan, Taiwan

    Shu-Ching Chen

  3. Graduate Institute of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, 250 Wu-Hsing Street, Taipei, 110, Taiwan

    Yeur-Hur Lai & Chia-Chin Lin

  4. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Section of Head and Neck Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan

    Chun-Ta Liao

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  1. Shu-Ching Chen
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  2. Yeur-Hur Lai
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  3. Chun-Ta Liao
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  4. Chia-Chin Lin
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Correspondence to Yeur-Hur Lai.

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Chen, SC., Lai, YH., Liao, CT. et al. Psychometric testing of the Impact of Event Scale-Chinese Version (IES-C) in oral cancer patients in Taiwan. Support Care Cancer 13, 485–492 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-005-0775-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-005-0775-x

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