Validation of a Taiwanese Version of the Burn-Specific Health Scale-Brief

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to translate the brief version of the Burn-Specific Health Scale (BSHS-B) into traditional Chinese (Taiwanese) and to evaluate its psychometric properties to measure quality of life of burn patients in Taiwan. The BSHS-B-Taiwanese was translated and reviewed by an expert committee. Patients were invited to participate in this study while they visited the outpatient burn clinic. One hundred and eight burn patients participated in this study by filling out the BSHS-B-Taiwanese and SF-36 Taiwanese version. Forty-one of 108 patients completed a retest on the BSHS-B-Taiwanese. A ceiling effect was found for psychosocial functioning and all domains of the BSHS-B-Taiwanese. Internal consistency shown by Cronbach's alpha was all above 0.70 except for the interpersonal relationships domain. Of these, Cronbach's alpha ≥0.9 was found in the work, heat sensitivity, and body image domains. Test-retest reliabilities ranged from 0.74 to 0.93 except for the simple activity domain. As for the criterion validity, most of the BSHS-B-Taiwanese version was shown to have fair to moderate correlations with the SF-36-Taiwanese in corresponding domains. The discriminant validity of the BSHS-B-Taiwanese was demonstrated by significant score differences in several domains between subgroups of different severity regarding length of hospital stay and TBSA. Our finding suggests that the BSHS-Taiwanese is generally reliable and valid. A shorter version of BSHS-B-Taiwanese together with a generic instrument, such as SF-36, can be used to measure the quality of life of burn patients in Taiwan.

Evaluation of measurement properties of health-related quality of life instruments for burns: A systematic review

“…Six instruments were specifically developed for the use in children (one generic, five disease specific, of which three on burn scarring). The most frequently appraised instruments were all burn-specific HRQL instruments: the Burns Specific Health Scale-Brief (BSHS-B 16,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] ), Burn Specific Health Scale-Abbreviated (BSHS-A [26][27][28][29][30] ), and Burn Specific Health Scale-Revised (BSHS-R [50][51][52][53] (Table 2; Supplemental Digital Content 3). Of the instruments that were specifically for the use in children, the Burn Outcome Questionnaire 5 to 18 (BOQ 5-18 y) was the one most frequently appraised [22][23][24] (Table 2; Supplemental Digital Content 3, http://links.lww.com/TA/B547).…”

“…Relevance and comprehensiveness of the BSHS-B were rated inconsistent as a result of conflicting results of multiple studies (Supplemental Digital Content 3, http://links.lww.com/ TA/B547). [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]48,49 The BSHS-B consists of nine subscales that have been confirmed in one study that used confirmatory factor analysis with an adequate sample size, which was therefore of very good quality. 45 Nevertheless, some studies that were of inferior quality because they used exploratory factor analysis and/or had an inadequate sample size showed other results, and therefore, the overall quality of structural validity was graded moderate.…”