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...

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Published in:Psychotherapy and psychosomatics 2004-01, Vol.73 (1), p.53-56
Main Authors: Rumpf, Hans-Jürgen, Löntz, Werner, Uesseler, Susanne
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Clinical Note
Female
Health Surveys
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Patient Satisfaction
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychometrics
Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Quality of Life
Self-Assessment
Stress, Psychological - psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Techniques and methods
Vitiligo - complications
Vitiligo - psychology
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Summary: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. Method: 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). Conclusion: Data suggest that PRISM can be self-administered. Measures of convergent validity confirm the usefulness of the new measure.
ISSN:0033-3190
1423-0348
DOI:10.1159/000074440