title: Assessment of distress associated with tinnitus.
abstract: This paper focuses upon the quality of the Dutch translation of the STSS (Subjective Tinnitus Severity Scale), a scale which assesses the severity of tinnitus and the related distress. Research has been done on the psychometric qualities of this scale, its relationship with loudness-matching procedures and several psychological variables. Data presented on 104 tinnitus patients demonstrated the reliability of the STSS with a coefficient alpha of 0.71. Factor analysis revealed four factors: emotional distress, intrusiveness, annoyance and cognitive distress. With regard to the validity, significant correlations of a moderate degree were found with several unitary subjective scales measuring the same construct (rs = 0.50, p < 0.001 and rs = 0.43, p < 0.01). Correlational research demonstrated that the STSS is independent of the loudness of tinnitus as measured by matching procedures (rs = 0.00). In contrast, significant correlations of a moderate magnitude were found with anxiety (rs = 0.33, p < 0.001) and depression (rs = 0.31, and rs = 0.35, p < 0.001).
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Health Psychology, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: van Veen
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bensing
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000523:psychology*