Psychometric development of the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Questionnaire (GSRQ) demonstrated good validity.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and validate a gastrointestinal (GI) symptom rating questionnaire for patients with luminal GI symptoms including where no diagnosis has been made.


METHODS
We developed and validated the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Questionnaire (GSRQ) in three stages: (1) item generation to identify the relevant items for scale inclusion; (2) development and piloting on patients with a known GI disorder; and (3) testing in a sample of trial patients. We examined the underlying dimensions of the scale, internal consistency, validity, reproducibility, and responsiveness.


RESULTS
We identified four interpretable factors on the GSRQ. The GSRQ had good internal consistency (corrected item-subscale correlations between 0.4 and 0.8) and Cronbach's alpha greater than 0.7 for each subscale. Construct validity was demonstrated by modest but significant correlations with the Short Form 36 and the EQ5D index value. We demonstrated good reproducibility with intraclass correlations for test-retest scores between 0.71 and 0.77, and significant responsiveness ratios for all subscales in patients who had improved, and in two of the subscales in patients who had deteriorated.


CONCLUSIONS
The GSRQ could be a useful tool to monitor quality of life in various luminal GI conditions and where a formal diagnosis has not been made.
Patient and Population Health and Informatics Research, College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK. Electronic address: h.a.hutchings@swansea.ac.uk.
Hayley A
HA
Hutchings
Patient and Population Health and Informatics Research, College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.
Wai-Yee
WY
Cheung
Patient and Population Health and Informatics Research, College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.
Ian T
IT
Russell
Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XW, UK.
Dharmaraj
D
Durai
Patient and Population Health and Informatics Research, College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.
Laith
L
Alrubaiy
Patient and Population Health and Informatics Research, College of Medicine, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.
John G
JG
Williams
D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D063189:Symptom Assessment / Q000379:methods*
Development; Diagnosis; Gastrointestinal symptoms; Psychometric analysis; Quality of life; Validation