BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - Symptom-based conditions require appropriate, validated, patient-reported outcomes measures (PRO) to assess treatment effects. Ideally these measures should be short, easy to complete, easy to interpret, and clinically meaningful. They are useful tools in evaluating urinary symptoms and their impact in quality of life; nevertheless, the questionnaires used must be validated. With this in mind, in the context of a study designed to assess the persistence and adherence to antimuscarinic treatment in patients diagnosed with de novo idiopathic overactive bladder (OAB), a linguistic and psychometric validation, in Spanish, of the Benefit, Satisfaction, and Willingness to Continue Treatment Questionnaire (BSW) was conducted.
The BSW, English-to-Spanish translation, retro-translation, and cultural adaptation to Spanish was carried out. The Morisky-Green questionnaire was used to assess compliance. The Bladder Control Self-assessment Questionnaire (BSAQ) and BSW questionnaire were completed, performing validation of BSW.
The questionnaire Beneficio, Satisfacción y Disposición Para Continuar el Tratamiento (Spanish acronym BSD; from English BSW) is a friendly, simple-to-use, internationally validated tool that can aid the clinician in better understanding how patients perceive the treatment.[1] It provides a useful global impression of 3 key elements that, although related, catch different aspects from the perception of the patient of his or her treatment: if benefit had been perceived, if the treatment was satisfactory, and the disposition of the patient to continue the treatment. When considering these aspects, patients quantify the degree of symptomatic relief, the impact in their lives, side effects, and cost.
These kinds of tools allow clinicians to better understand a patient’s perception of treatment response, which can be a good indicator of treatment adherence. The aspects considered in the patient’s perspective may differ from patient-to-patient, as it reflects the individual’s needs, concerns, and values. With the BSW questionnaire, it is assumed that the patient makes a balanced assessment of benefit/risk of the treatment to provide a global answer. The patient’s expectations are very important because they affect motivation and adhesion to treatment, thus influencing satisfaction and benefit perception. BSW is useful to ease doctor/patient communication and to increase the adherence to prescribed treatment in clinical practice.
At the time of evaluating feasibility, patients responded to all the questions contained in the BSD questionnaire, and more than 90% understood the questions, thus demonstrating ease of understanding on the part of patients. It required only a short period of time to complete and interpret.
The BSD scores were correlated with the scores in the Spanish version of the Bladder Control Self-Assessment Questionnaire (BSAQ). The patients with a higher BSD score, indicative of a better evaluation of the treatment, were those who reported a lesser degree of annoyances and symptoms presented/displayed, according to BSAQ.
All the correlations were statistically significant. The internal consistency of the BSD was greater than 0,7. It was not possible to calculate sensitivity to the change since the total score of the questionnaire was not modified during the course of the study. It could be because the patients included had not experienced a real change (neither positive nor negative) between the first and third months. The results of questionnaire B-SAQ would support this hypothesis since the scores obtained between the first and third months were very similar.
Reference:
- The validation of patientrated global assessments of treatment benefit, satisfaction, and willingness to continue--the BSW. Pleil AM, Coyne KS, Reese PR, Jumadilova Z, Rovner ES, Kelleher CJ. Value Health. 2005 Nov-Dec;8 Suppl 1:S25-34.
Written by:
Miguel A. Jiménez-Cidre as part of Beyond the Abstract on UroToday.com. This initiative offers a method of publishing for the professional urology community. Authors are given an opportunity to expand on the circumstances, limitations etc... of their research by referencing the published abstract.
Servicio de Urología, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, España
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