Development and Psychometric Testing of a New Short-Form of the Premenstrual Symptoms Questionnaire (PSQ-S)

Abstract

Purpose The Premenstrual Symptoms Questionnaire (PSQ) is a patient-reported outcome measurement tool for premenstrual symptoms. Although the PSQ is a very useful tool with 14 items to screen for a wide variety of premenstrual symptoms, not everyone will respond to all the questions. Fewer questions would be less burdensome on the respondents. We aimed to develop and analyze the psychometric properties of a short-form of the PSQ (PSQ-S). Patients and Methods The study participants were from an earlier study with a sample of 1388 female students. We reanalyzed data collected from 922 students with regular menstrual cycles who completed the PSQ, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) scale, Somatic Symptom Scale-8 (SSS-8), and numerical rating scale (NRS) for menstrual pain. First, we selected nine items for the PSQ-S based on the results of the corrected item-total correlation analysis. The PSQ-S was then analyzed for reliability and validity using the classical test theory. Moreover, item response theory was applied to test the psychometric properties of the PSQ-S. Results Cronbach’s α for the PSQ-S score was 0.93. Principal component factor analysis revealed a one-factor model. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the one-factor model was a good fit. The PSQ-S total score was strongly correlated with the PSQ total score, PMDD scale score, and SSS-8 score (r=0.978, 0.854, and 0.648, respectively) and moderately correlated with the NRS (r=0.437). Item response theory analyses showed that the constructs and items of the PSQ-S had satisfactory discrimination, difficulty parameters, item information curves, and test information curves. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed a cut-off score of ≥22 for suspected premenstrual disorders based on the total PSQ-S score. Conclusion The PSQ-S, consisting of nine items from the PSQ, had sufficient reliability and validity and could be a convenient assessment tool for premenstrual symptoms in routine clinical practice.

Development of a premenstrual syndrome scale for workplaces

“…There are several study limitations that should be examined and discussed. First, in this study, only 10% of women had PMS and 3% had PMDD, which was slightly less than the 20-30% observed in community samples 28 and the 5.9% of 303 healthy women aged 20-45 years assessed using the DSM-IV 15,29,30 , which suggests that our study participants might have been healthier than these other populations.…”

Premenstrual disorders: Premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder

“…More recently, the short-form of the PSQ (PSQ-S), consisting of nine items from the PSQ was developed and analyzed by CTT and IRT. 32 In CTT, the PSQ-S showed the same ability as the PSQ in the aspect of reliability, structural validity, and concurrent validity. Moreover, IRT showed that the all nine items in the PSQ-S performed well.…”

“…Furthermore, the PSQ has been adequately validated for reliability, and psychometric properties have been shown to be sound. More recently, the short‐form of the PSQ (PSQ‐S), consisting of nine items from the PSQ was developed and analyzed by CTT and IRT 32 . In CTT, the PSQ‐S showed the same ability as the PSQ in the aspect of reliability, structural validity, and concurrent validity.…”