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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Pain Symptom Manage. 2008 Nov 20;37(4):715–736. doi: 10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2008.04.018

Table 2.

Characteristics and Psychometric Properties of Instruments Used to Measure Multiple Symptoms in Adults with Cancer

Instrument Number of Items and Dimensions Measured Dimensions Scale Reliability Validity Number of studies
MDASI 13 symptoms severity items 6 interference items Physical Psychological 11-point numeric rating scale Internal consistency(Cronbach alpha=0.82–0.91) Content Construct 7
-Severity
-Level of interference with function		 Intensity = 0 (not present) to 10 (as bad as you can imagine)
Interference = 0 (does not interfere) to 10 (interferes completely)
MSAS 32 items Physical Psychological 4- and 5-point Likert scales Internal consistency(Cronbach alpha =0.83–0.85) Content Construct 5
-Frequency
-Severity
-Distress		 Severity and frequency = 1 (slight/rarely) to 4 (very severe/almost constantly)
Distress = 0 (not at all) to 4 (very much)
SDS 13 items Physical Psychological 5-point Likert scales Internal consistency (Cronbach alpha =0.82) Criterion Content Construct 6
-Distress Distress = 1 (the least amount of distress) to 5(extreme distress) Test-retest

MDASI=M. D. Anderson Symptom Inventory; MSAS=Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale; SDS=Symptom Distress Scale.