imprint:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2022
Published in:Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1186/s12955-022-01993-z
ISSN:
1477-7525
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Background</jats:title>
<jats:p>Patients with multiple long-term conditions often face a variety of challenges arising from the requirements of their health care. Knowledge of perceived treatment burden is crucial for optimizing treatment. In this study, we aimed to create a German version of the Multimorbidity Treatment Burden Questionnaire (MTBQ) and to evaluate its validity.
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<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>
<jats:p>The steps to translate the MTBQ included forward/back translation, cognitive interviews (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 6) and a pilot test (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 7). Psychometric properties of the scale were assessed in a cross-sectional survey with primary care patients aged 65 and older with at least 3 long-term conditions (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 344). We examined the distribution of responses, dimensionality, internal reliability and construct validity.</jats:p>
</jats:sec><jats:sec>
<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>Cognitive interviewing and piloting led to minor modifications and showed overall good face validity and acceptability. As expected, we observed a positively skewed response distribution for all items. Reliability was acceptable with McDonald’s omega = 0.71. Factor analysis suggested one common factor while model fit indices were inconclusive. Predefined hypotheses regarding the construct validity were supported by negative associations between treatment burden and health-related quality of life, self-rated health, social support, patient activation and medication adherence, and positive associations between treatment burden and number of comorbidities. Treatment burden was found to be higher in female participants (<jats:italic>Mdn</jats:italic><jats:sub>1</jats:sub> = 6.82, <jats:italic>Mdn</jats:italic><jats:sub>2</jats:sub> = 4.55; <jats:italic>U</jats:italic> = 11,729, <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.001) and participants with mental health diagnoses (<jats:italic>Mdn</jats:italic><jats:sub>1</jats:sub> = 9.10, <jats:italic>Mdn</jats:italic><jats:sub>2</jats:sub> = 4.55; <jats:italic>U</jats:italic> = 3172, <jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 0.024).</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title>
<jats:p>The German MTBQ exhibited good psychometric properties and can be used to assess the perceived treatment burden of patients with multimorbidity.</jats:p>
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