Psychometric evaluation of the heart surgery symptom inventory in patients recovering from coronary artery bypass surgery.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and concurrent validity of the Heart Surgery Symptom Inventory (HSSI) in patients following coronary artery bypass surgery.

Methods: This study included 28 patients attending outpatient rehabilitation who had undergone coronary artery bypass surgery within the past 6 months. Patients completed self-report instruments including a medical history form, HSSI, and Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36. Patients also completed a second HSSI at a later time on the same testing day. HSSI scores were summed to create a total score and 4 subcategory scores (general, cardiac, trunk, lower extremity). Correlations were calculated for scores obtained during 2 trials of the HSSI to evaluate test-retest reliability, between individual items, subcategory, and total scores to evaluate internal consistency, and between HSSI scores and Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 scores to evaluate concurrent validity.

Results: Correlations for the 2 trials of the HSSI total and all subcategories were significant (P < .05) and ranged from 0.89 to 0.99. Subcategories to total correlations were all significant and ranged from 0.59 to 0.85. Subcategories to subcategory correlations were all significant except for lower extremity to cardiac and lower extremity to general comparisons. Individual item to total correlations ranged from 0.02 to 0.84. Individual item to subcategory correlations ranged from 0.01 to 0.85. The correlations between the HSSI total and all Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 scores were significant.

Conclusions: Results indicate that the HSSI has appropriate reliability and validity for clinical and research applications. The HSSI can be a useful clinical and research tool to evaluate quality of life in patients after coronary artery bypass surgery.