Aims: To examine the responsiveness of a combined symptom severity and health-related quality of life measure, condition-specific health-related quality of life measure and mental health measure in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms.
Background: To establish the responsiveness of measures that accurately capture the change in health status of patients is crucial before any longitudinal studies can be appropriately planned and evaluated.
Design: Prospective longitudinal observational study.
Methods: 402 patients were surveyed at baseline and 1-year using the International Prostate Symptom Score, the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire-7 and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales-21. The internal and external responsiveness were assessed. Surveys were conducted from March 2013-July 2014.
Results: In participants with improvements, the internal responsiveness for detecting positive changes was satisfactory in males and females for all scales, expect for the Depression subscale. The health-related quality of life question of the International Prostate Symptom Score was more externally responsive than the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire-7.
Conclusions: The International Prostate Symptom Score and Anxiety and Stress subscales were more responsive in males than in females. The symptom questions of the International Prostate Symptom Score and Anxiety and Stress subscales were not externally responsive in females. The health-related quality of life question of the International Prostate Symptom Score outperformed the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire-7 in both males and females, in terms of external responsiveness.
Keywords: assessment; instrument development; mental health; nursing; psychometric testing; quality of life; urology.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.