title: An instrument to measure symptom experience. Symptom occurrence and symptom distress.
abstract: This article describes the development of an instrument that measures symptom experience (symptom occurrence and symptom distress). The Adapted Symptom Distress Scale-2 (ASDS-2), adapted from the McCorkle and Young Distress Scale, is a 31-item, 5-point, self-report paper-and-pencil instrument that measures patients' perception of the occurrence and distress of 14 symptoms: nausea, vomiting, pain, eating, sleep, fatigue, bowel elimination, breathing, coughing, concentration, lacrimation, changes in body temperature, appearance, and restlessness. Use of the instrument yields a total score for symptom experience, scores for symptom occurrence, scores for symptom distress, and subscale scores for six symptom categories: gastrointestinal, fatigue/restlessness, concentration, pain/discomfort, respiratory, and appearance. Reliability and validity were determined with well adults (n = 97), medical-surgical patients (n = 82), and oncology patients (n = 175). Findings revealed a Cronbach's alpha of 0.91 for symptom experience, 0.90 for symptom occurrence, and 0.76 for symptom distress. Cronbach's alpha for the subscales ranged from 0.38 for appearance symptoms to 0.83 for gastrointestinal symptoms. Inclusion of symptoms reported by patients with cancer strengthened content validity. A contrasted groups approach was used to demonstrate construct validity.
authors.affiliation: Sinclair School of Nursing, University of Missouri-Columbia 65211, USA.
authors.forename: V A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: McDaniel
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Homan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Madsen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology; D009733:Nursing Diagnosis / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires