Measuring the impact of gastrointestinal inconvenience and symptoms on perceived health in the general population - validation of the Short Health Scale for gastrointestinal symptoms (SHS-GI)

Susanna Walter*, Michael P. Jones, Jenny Sjodahl, Henrik Stjernman, Henrik Hjortswang, Anna Andreasson

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    1 Citation (Scopus)
    75 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Objectives: Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are intimately related to our wellbeing. The Short Health Scale for GI symptoms (SHS-GI) is a simple questionnaire to measure the impact of GI inconvenience and symptoms on quality of life. The aim was to validate the SHS-GI in a general population sample and to compare it with SHS-data across different patient groups.

    Method: A subsample of 170 participants from a population-based colonoscopy study completed the Rome II questionnaire, GI diaries, psychological questionnaire (hospital anxiety and depression scale) and SHS-GI at follow-up investigation. Psychometric properties of SHS-GI as an overall score were determined by performing a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Spearman correlation between SHS total score and symptoms was calculated in the general population sample. SHS-GI data was compared with SHS data from patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and fecal incontinence (FI).

    Results: As expected, the general population rated their impact of GI inconvenience on quality of life as better than the patient populations in terms of all aspects of the SHS-GI. The CFA showed a good model fit meeting all fit criteria in the general population. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale was 0.80 in the general population sample and ranged from 0.72 in the FI sample to 0.88 and 0.89 in the IBD samples.

    Conclusions: SHS-GI demonstrated appropriate psychometric properties in a sample of the normal population. We suggest that SHS-GI is a valid simple questionnaire suitable for measuring the impact of GI symptoms and inconvenience on quality of life in both general and patient populations.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1406-1413
    Number of pages8
    JournalScandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology
    Volume56
    Issue number12
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2 Dec 2021

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright the Author(s) 2021. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

    Keywords

    • quality of life
    • gastrointestinal symptoms
    • population
    • IBD
    • fecal incontinence

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Measuring the impact of gastrointestinal inconvenience and symptoms on perceived health in the general population - validation of the Short Health Scale for gastrointestinal symptoms (SHS-GI)'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this