The Burn Specific Health Scale-Brief: measurement invariant across European countries

N.E.E. van Loey, R. Van de Schoot, Bengt Gerdin, Albert W. Faber, Folke Sjoberg, Mimmie Willebrand

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Burn Specific Health Scale Brief (BSHS-B), which is the only multidimensional measure to evaluate burn-specific aspects of health status, has previously been validated in several languages across the world. However, the stability of the underlying construct was not cross-culturally evaluated. The current study reports on measurement invariance across two samples of Swedish- and Dutch- speaking patients with burns.

METHODS: In a prospective study, 231 and 275 Swedish and Dutch-Belgian patients with burns, completed the BSHS-B at 9 or 12 months, respectively, after burn. Using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance across languages (Swedish and Dutch) was tested.

RESULTS: The results of the confirmatory factor analysis in the total sample revealed that the scale structure for the earlier reported three-factor structure and the original nine-factor structure was adequate. However, an eight-factor structure in which hand function and simple abilities were merged provided the best fit. This structure was used to test measurement invariance across the two language groups. The two-group outcomes testing measurement invariance across Swedish- and Dutch-speaking patients indicated a stable, configural invariance.

CONCLUSION: The BSHS-B seems to function uniformly across both language groups. The BSHS-B can be used to compare cross-cultural results in both countries.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic study, level III.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1321-1326
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery
Volume74
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2013

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