Preliminary cross-sectional reliability and validity of the Skull Base Inventory (SBI) quality of life questionnaire.
BACKGROUND
The Skull Base Inventory (SBI) was developed to assess the quality of life of patients undergoing endoscopic or open approaches for anterior and central skull base pathologies. In this study, we sought to establish the discriminative and evaluative properties for this instrument.


METHODS
The SBI was administered in a cross-sectional fashion to patients who previously had skull base surgery after treatment and then again 2 weeks after completing the instrument. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and construct validity were determined. Four constructs were evaluated with the following a priori hypotheses: lower scores will be seen in patients with 1.malignant versus benign histology, 2.a history of radiation versus none, and those with 3.recurrences versus no recurrence, and 4.items deemed relevant versus irrelevant by respondents.


RESULTS
Fifty-two patients completed the questionnaire; 32 had endoscopic and 20 open surgeries. Internal consistency was good (>0.7 and <0.95) for all domains except one. Test-retest reliability was good (>0.70) for 38 of 41 items. Four constructs were evaluated and three were consistent with a priori hypotheses (p < 0.05). The instrument failed to confirm the hypothesis that malignant tumours are associated with poorer scores than benign.


CONCLUSIONS
The SBI demonstrated preliminary reliability and validity for discriminative use.
Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Soroush
S
Larjani
Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Eric
E
Monteiro
Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Ian
I
Witterick
Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Allan
A
Vescan
Department of Neurosurgery, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Gelareh
G
Zadeh
Department of Neurosurgery, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Fred
F
Gentili
Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
David P
DP
Goldstein
Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada. john.dealmeida@uhn.ca.|Princess Margaret Cancer Center, 610 University Avenue, 3-955, Toronto, M5G 2 M9, ON, Canada. john.dealmeida@uhn.ca.
John R
JR
de Almeida
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004724:Endoscopy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013517:Otorhinolaryngologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D019291:Skull Base / Q000601:surgery; D019292:Skull Base Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Endoscopic; Open; Quality of life; Questionnaire; Skull base surgery