OP072 IDENTIFYING DISEASE-SPECIFIC DISTRESS IN ADULTS WITH VENOUS LEG ULCERS...European Wound Management Association (EWMA) Conference, May 3-5, 2023, Milan, Italy.
- Resource Type
- Academic Journal
- Authors
- Parker, Christina; O'Brien, Jane; Finlayson, Kathleen; Fenech, Mary; Bui, Ut
- Source
- Journal of Wound Management Jul2023; 24(2): 428-428. (1/2p)
- Subject
- Language
- English
- ISSN
- 2788-5771
Aim: The study aimed to inform the development of a distress scale (by building on previous validation of distress themes) for people with venous leg ulcers (VLUs) involving consumers using cognitive interviews. Distinct from depression and anxiety, distress is the experience of feeling overwhelmed by the demands of living with and managing a chronic disease1. Method: Previous studies resulted in themes of distress (emotional distress; healthcare-related distress; interpersonal/social distress; treatment-related distress; and symptom-related distress). A modified Delphi survey of health professionals caring for people with VLUs confirmed the distress phases and items within. This phase of the development of the survey included a convenience sample of ten people with or who had had a VLU to participate in cognitive interviews. Cognitive interviewing involved the researcher asking consumers to think out loud with the incorporation of verbal probing to evaluate whether they understood and processed the questions as intended by the developers. Results / Discussion: Cognitive interviews confirmed face validity and content validity of the five VLU-distress themes. Minor changes were made to the survey items after the cognitive interviews with the final draft survey determined. Conclusion: Disease-specific distress in VLU has been identified and is distinct from anxiety and depression and development of a new VLU-distress scale is warranted. Further test-retest analysis will need to occur to finalise a distress survey. 1Dibley, L et al. (2018). Development and Psychometric Properties of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Distress Scale (IBD-DS): A New Tool to Measure Disease-Specific Distress. Inflammatory bowel diseases. doi:10.1093/ibd/izy108