Chinese Version of the Assessment of Survivor Concerns Scale for Gynecological Cancer Survivors: A Psychometric Study in Taiwan.
Li-Yun Tsai, Kung-Liahng Wang, Jung-Mei Tsai and 1 others
PMID 30908430WHAT IT FOUND
A Chinese questionnaire for gynecological cancer survivors was reliable and separated cancer worry from health worry.
Nurses can use it to ask about fear of recurrence and family health before deciding on referral.
Key findings
01The Chinese version was tested in 287 gynecological cancer survivors in Taiwan.
02The cancer worry and health worry parts scored consistently across items, with values of .90 and .78, and the total scale .91.
03Most participants reported at least a little worry about family health, with 84.31% saying they were a little bit, somewhat, or very much worried.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
All participants came from one medical center in northern Taiwan and were either outpatients or support-group members, so the sample may not represent other cancer survivors. The study did not establish whether the scale can detect change over time, and its accuracy against an external standard was not established. Quality-of-life assessment excluded fertility issues. It narrowed the range of survivor concerns measured. The health worry part had a reported internal consistency of .78, while the cancer worry part had .90. The paper reported health worry internal consistency as .63 and .78 in different places. The authors noted heavy cross-loading between the two worry parts and said their main discriminant validity test was less rigorous. The authors judged test-retest reliability satisfactory when the intraclass correlation confidence interval was .5 to .75, but the reported intervals were .21 to .70 for cancer worry, .11 to .64 for health worry, and .18 to .68 for total score.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that asking gynecological cancer survivors about fear of recurrence improves outcomes. The study validated a questionnaire in one hospital sample and did not show that the scale can detect change over time.