Development and testing of the ostomy concerns scale: Measuring ostomy-related concerns of cancer patients and their partners*1

This article reports the third phase of a project undertaken to develop and test the Ostomy Concerns Scale. The Ostomy Concerns Scale measures concerns of cancer patients with ostomies and of their partners. The tool was pilot tested for clarity, apparent internal consistency (nonquantitative assessment of homogeneity of content), and content validity by a panel of experts. The scale met or exceeded the preset criteria specified in this phase of testing. Subsequent testing included estimates of the scale's reliability and validity with a sample of 40 patients and their partners. Internal consistency estimates, as measured by Cronbach's α coefficient, were 0.92 at two test times. A test-retest reliability estimate of 0.73, as measured by Spearman's correlation coefficient, was obtained. The results are promising and suggest that the Ostomy Concerns Scale provides a clinically useful evaluation of concerns of patients with ostomies and their partners.