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. 2016 Apr 9:13:18.
doi: 10.1186/s12981-016-0102-2. eCollection 2016.

Validation of a self-reported HIV symptoms list: the ISS-HIV symptoms scale

Raffaella Bucciardini  1 , Katherina Pugliese  1 , Daniela Francisci  2 , Andrea Costantini  3 , Elisabetta Schiaroli  2 , Miriam Cognigni  3 , Chiara Tontini  3 , Stefano Lucattini  1 , Luca Fucili  1 , Massimiliano Di Gregorio  1 , Marco Mirra  1 , Vincenzo Fragola  1 , Sara Pompili  4 , Rita Murri  5 , Stefano Vella  1
Affiliations

Validation of a self-reported HIV symptoms list: the ISS-HIV symptoms scale

Raffaella Bucciardini et al. AIDS Res Ther. .

Abstract

Background: To describe the development and the psychometric properties of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità-HIV symptoms scale (lSS-HIV symptoms scale).

Methods: The ISS-HIV symptom scale was developed by an Italian working team including researchers, physicians and people living with HIV. The development process went through the following steps: (1) review of HIV/AIDS literature; (2) focus group; (3) pre-test analysis; (4) scale validation.

Results: The 22 symptoms of HIV-ISS symptoms scale were clustered in five factors: pain/general discomfort (7 items); depression/anxiety (4 items); emotional reaction/psychological distress (5 items); gastrointestinal discomfort (4 items); sexual discomfort (2 items). The internal consistence reliability was for all factors within the minimum accepted standard of 0.70.

Conclusions: The results of this study provide a preliminary evidence of the reliability and validity of the ISS-HIV symptoms scale. In the new era where HIV infection has been transformed into a chronic diseases and patients are experiencing a complex range of symptoms, the ISS-HIV symptoms scale may represent an useful tool for a comprehensive symptom assessment with the advantage of being easy to fill out by patients and potentially attractive to physicians mainly because it is easy to understand and requires short time to interpret the results.

Keywords: HIV-symptoms list; Health related quality of life; Patients reported outcomes.

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