Healthy youth are reliable in reporting symptoms on a graded symptom scale.
BACKGROUND
Clinicians often rely on the self-report symptoms of patients in making clinical decisions; hence it is important that these scales be reliable.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the test-retest reliability of healthy youth in completing a graded symptom scale (GSS), modified from the Head Injury Scale Self-Report Concussion Symptoms Scale (HIS).


METHODS
Repeated-measures.


METHODS
Middle school classroom.


METHODS
126 middle school students.


METHODS
A survey consisting of a demographic and life events questionnaire and a GSS asking about symptom severity and duration.


METHODS
Score for each symptom on the severity and duration scale and a total symptom score (TSS) and the total number of symptoms endorsed (TSE) from the severity scale. Responses on a life events questionnaire were also recorded.


RESULTS
We found excellent reliability for TSS (ICC=.93) and TSE (ICC=.88) for the severity scale. We found moderate to excellent reliability on the individual symptoms of both the severity (ICC=.65-.89) and duration (ICC=56-.96) scales.


CONCLUSIONS
Healthy youth can reliably self-report symptoms using a GSS. This patient-oriented outcome measure should be incorporated into more investigations in this age group.
Mailer
Brandy J
BJ
Linfield College in McMinnville, OR, USA.
Valovich-McLeod
Tamara C
TC
Bay
R Curtis
RC
D000293:Adolescent; D001924:Brain Concussion / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D014481:United States