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. 2019 Jan 8;19(1):32.
doi: 10.1186/s12885-018-5210-z.

Development of mini-SSPedi for children 4-7 years of age receiving cancer treatments

Deborah Tomlinson  1 , Shannon Hyslop  2 , Eliana Stein  2 , Brenda Spiegler  3 , Emily Vettese  2 , Susan Kuczynski  4 , Tal Schechter  3 , L Lee Dupuis  2   5   6 , Lillian Sung  2   7
Affiliations

Development of mini-SSPedi for children 4-7 years of age receiving cancer treatments

Deborah Tomlinson et al. BMC Cancer. .

Abstract

Background: The Symptom Screening in Pediatrics Tool (SSPedi) is valid for assessing symptoms in children aged 8-18 years receiving cancer treatments. The objective was to develop a new self-report symptom screening tool for children receiving cancer treatments who are 4-7 years of age (mini-SSPedi), based on SSPedi.

Methods: Respondents were children with cancer or pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients who were 4-7 years of age. We included the same 15 symptoms contained in SSPedi. Using cognitive interviewing, we developed mini-SSPedi in three phases and made decisions based upon respondent understanding. First, we developed questionnaire structure regarding recall period, concept of bother and response option format. Second, we determined wording of each symptom. Third, we evaluated the entire mini-SSPedi instrument for understanding and ease of completion.

Results: We enrolled 100 participants in total and included 30, 40 and 30 in each of the three phases. Questionnaire structure was satisfactory with a recall period of "today" and a faces-based 3-point Likert scale. Bother was well-understood. Five symptoms required modification to achieve satisfactory understanding while the remaining 10 SSPedi symptoms did not require modification. Among the last 10 children enrolled, all understood each mini-SSPedi item and none thought mini-SSPedi was hard to complete.

Conclusion: We developed a symptom screening tool for children with cancer and pediatric HSCT recipients between 4 and 7 years of age that is understandable and easy to complete. Future work will evaluate the psychometric properties of mini-SSPedi and develop an electronic version of the instrument.

Keywords: Cancer; Children; Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; Self-report; Symptom screening.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study received Research Ethics Board approval from the Hospital for Sick Children, and parents provided informed consent and children provided assent to participate.

Consent for publication

The manuscript does not contain any identifiable individual information.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Mini-SSPedi: Symptom Screening in Pediatrics
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