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Quality of Life in Persons with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Development and Validation of a New Measure)

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Abstract

How irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and itstreatment affect quality of life (QOL) is important. Todevelop a quality-of-life measure specific to irritablebowel syndrome, items were generated using a conceptual model and qualitative interviews with personsdiagnosed using the Rome criteria. Symptom frequency andbothersomeness indices were created. Psychometricevaluation methods involved an initial cross-sectional survey followed by a repeat survey. Theresulting 34-item measure demonstrated high internalconsistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.95) and highreproducibility (ICC = 0.86) with average time of sevendays (SD = 1). For discriminant validity: number of symptoms(P < 0.05), self-reported severity of symptoms (P< 0.001), and the functional bowel disorder severityindex (P < 0.001) significantly predicted IBS-QOLscores. Convergent validity and analyses confirmedpredictions that scores are more closely related topsychological well-being (0.45) than to function (0.36).We conclude this measure meets established psychometric criteria for reliability and validity; testingof its responsiveness is warranted.

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Patrick, D.L., Drossman, D.A., Frederick, I.O. et al. Quality of Life in Persons with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (Development and Validation of a New Measure). Dig Dis Sci 43, 400–411 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018831127942

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