Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of MASCC antiemesis tool

Objective To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of MASCC antiemesis tool (MAT) in patients with chemotherapy. Methods This research was an experimental study with cross design. A total of 50 cancer patients with intravenous chemotherapy were selected from May 2015 to November 2015 in a grade-three and class-one hospital. They were randomly divided into two groups according to the random number table method. The symptom diary was recorded at 24 hours after the first course of treatment in patients of one group. At the same time, cute and delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomit was evaluated with MAT at 24 hours and one week after the second course of treatment. Otherwise, those were done cross in patients of the other group. Then, the reliability (internal consistency) and the validity (content or criterion-related validity) were evaluated. Results A total of 50 patients ( two courses per person) were involved in this research. The Cronbach′s alpha coefficient (internal consistency) was 0.71. The content validity index (CVI) of all items of the Chinese version of MAT was 1.00. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the incidence rates of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomit which was evaluated by diary and MAT (P>0.05). The results of this research showed that the Kappa coefficients of the incidence rates of delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomit evaluated by diary and MAT were 87.8% and 87.4% (P<0.01). The correlation coefficient of the nausea degree was 0.655 (P<0.01) in patients who complained of nausea. Conclusions The Chinese version of MAT has good reliability and validity and it is suitable for assessing the condition of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomit in patients with chemotherapy. Key words: Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomit; MASCC antiemesis tool; Reliability; Validity