A self-administered version of a brief measure of suffering: first aspects of validity.
BACKGROUND
Measuring the impact of illness is important for several reasons. Recently, a new instrument was introduced using a pictorial approach in measuring the perception of suffering caused by illness: the Pictorial Representation of Illness Measure (PRISM). The aim of the present study was to introduce a self-administered version of PRISM and to provide some first data on its validity.


METHODS
A postal survey was conducted in subjects with the chronic depigmentation disorder vitiligo. Participants were members of the German vitiligo association. The response rate was 60.6%. Data of 333 respondents completing the PRISM were used for analysis. Besides illness-related measures, psychological variables were assessed with the following instruments: Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), five-item version of the Mental Health Inventory, adaptation of the Skindex-29, a quality-of-life measure for skin diseases.


RESULTS
Only 2.9% did not fill in the PRISM. Self-illness separation correlated as predicted with some illness-related variables. The distance was significantly larger in subjects whose depigmentation was no longer spreading. Significant correlations were also found with mental health (0.50), satisfaction with life (-0.28), perceived impairment of outward appearance (-0.65), and the Skindex subscales 'emotions' (-0.66) and 'functioning' (-0.67).


CONCLUSIONS
Data suggest that PRISM can be self-administered. Measures of convergent validity confirm the usefulness of the new measure.
Rumpf
Hans-Jürgen
HJ
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany. h.rumpf@ukl.mu-luebeck.de
Löntz
Werner
W
Uesseler
Susanne
S
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014820:Vitiligo / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology