Preliminary cross sectional reliability and validity of the Skull Base Inventory (SBI) quality of life questionnaire
BackgroundThe Skull Base Inventory (SBI) was developed to assess the quality of life of patients undergoing endoscopic or open approaches for anterior and central skull base pathologies. In this study, we sought to establish the discriminative and evaluative properties for this instrument.MethodsThe SBI was administered in a cross sectional fashion to patients who previously had skull base surgery after treatment and then again 2 weeks after completing the instrument. Internal consistency, test retest reliability, and construct validity were determined. Four constructs were evaluated with the following a priori hypotheses: lower scores will be seen in patients with 1.malignant versus benign histology, 2.a history of radiation versus none, and those with 3.recurrences versus no recurrence, and 4.items deemed relevant versus irrelevant by respondents.ResultsFifty two patients completed the questionnaire; 32 had endoscopic and 20 open surgeries. Internal consistency was good >0.7 and <0.95) for all domains except one. Test retest reliability was good >0.70) for 38 of 41 items. Four constructs were evaluated and three were consistent with a priori hypotheses (p 0.05) The instrument failed to confirm the hypothesis that malignant tumours are associated with poorer scores than benign.ConclusionsThe SBI demonstrated preliminary reliability and validity for discriminative use.
Journal of Otolaryngology Head Neck Surgery