Validity and Reliability Study of the Turkish Version of the Hand-Foot Syndrome Quality of Life Scale

INTRODUCTION: Background: Hand-foot syndrome is a symptom of some antineoplastic drugs which affects blood vessels and surrounding tissues, causing redness, swelling, and pain on the palms and soles and affects quality of life. The study was carried out methodologically in order to adapt the Hand-Foot Syndrome Scale-14, which was developed for the quality of life of individuals receiving chemotherapy who have hand-foot syndrome, into Turkish and to determine its validity and reliability.
METHODS: The research was conducted with 102 patients who received chemotherapy in a University Hospital Chemotherapy Unit. Patient Information Form, National Cancer Institute classification criteria, Hand-Foot Syndrome Scale-14, and Skindex-29 Scale were used to collect data. Translation-back translation technique was used for the language validity of the scale. For the content validity of the scale, 7 experts were consulted. Opinions from experts showed that the correlation between the items of the scale was very strong (Kendall’s W = 0.24, P = .61).
RESULTS: As a result of the explanatory factor analysis, a 3-factor structure with a total variance of 60.31% was obtained. When the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient values were examined for internal consistency validity, it was determined that the total Cronbach alpha value of the scale was 0.86, and the Cronbach’s alpha value of its subscales was 0.84, 0.89, and 0.67, respectively. In addition, it was observed that there was a strong positive correlation between Skindex-29 and Hand-Foot Syndrome Scale-14.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The results of the Turkish version of Hand-Foot Syndrome Scale-14 were found to be consistent with the original scale structure, valid and reliable for the Turkish population.