Supportive Care in Cancer

, Volume 24, Issue 9, pp 3729–3737 | Cite as

Psychometric assessment of the Chinese version of the MASCC Antiemesis Tool (MAT) for measuring chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting

  • Jing-Yu Tan
  • Lorna K. P. Suen
  • Alex Molassiotis
Original Article
First Online:
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Accepted:
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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to assess the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the MASCC Antiemesis Tool (MAT) for measuring chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV).

Methods

This was a psychometric study using a panel of experts and a prospective observational design. Six experts were invited to identify the content validity and face validity of the MAT, and 115 cancer patients were then recruited from three provincial medical centers in Fuzhou, China. The MAT was self-completed by the patients on the first and the fifth day after receiving the most recent chemotherapy, and patients also rated daily the Index of Nausea, Vomiting, and Retching (INVR) during the first 5 days after chemotherapy. Content validity was measured by the index of the content validity (CVI). Construct validity was estimated by the contrasted groups approach. Concurrent validity was measured by exploring the correlations between the INVR and MAT scores. The reliability of the MAT was examined by Cronbach’s alpha and item-to-total correlations.

Results

One hundred and eleven subjects returned the completed measures. High content validity was determined. Contrasted groups analysis clearly discriminated the differences on the CINV symptom experiences between different age and gender groups. Excellent concurrent validity was identified, with the Spearman’s correlation coefficient between the MAT total score and the INVR overall total score of 0.94 (P < 0.001). Cronbach’s alpha for the MAT was 0.73, and the item-to-total correlations ranged from 0.50 to 0.71.

Conclusions

The MAT Chinese version is a valid, reliable, and convenient instrument for measuring CINV in Chinese cancer patients.

Keywords

Chemotherapy Nausea Vomiting Scale Psychometrics Reliability Validity 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Professor Jian Liu and Professor Mei-Hua Wu at the Fujian Provincial Cancer Hospital; Professor Hui-Rong Huang, Ms. Yan-Qing Pan, and Ms. Mei Chen at the People’s Hospital of Fujian Province; and Professor Feng-Guang Guan and Ms. Tao Wang at the Second People’s Hospital of Fujian Province, for their kind assistance in the process of subject recruitment.

Compliance with ethical standards

The Human Subjects Ethics Sub-Committee of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University reviewed and approved the study protocol. Ethical approvals were also obtained from the study hospitals.

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Jing-Yu Tan
    • 1
  • Lorna K. P. Suen
    • 1
  • Alex Molassiotis
    • 1
  1. 1.School of NursingThe Hong Kong Polytechnic UniversityKowloonHong Kong

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