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Background: Hand eczema severity index (HECSI) is a widely used tool for assessment of hand eczema (HE) severity. Generally, HECSI has been used by health care providers, and a validation of the HECSI tool when used by patients is lacking. Objectives: To evaluate the construct validity and reliability of HECSI as a tool for patients based on comparison to HECSI assessments by physicians. Methods: Patients with HE, enrolled from the dermatological outpatient clinic, Bispebjerg Hospital, assessed HE severity with a patient version of HECSI (patient‐HECSI). Afterwards, HECSI was assessed by a trained physician (physician‐HECSI). Results: This study found a strong correlation and very good absolute agreement between patient‐HECSI and physician‐HECSI assessments with a correlation coefficient of 0.756 and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.844. Cronbach's alpha was 0.861 indicating very good internal consistency. Conclusion: With a strong construct validity and reliability, the patient‐HECSI may be used by patients as a patient‐reported outcome assessing their personal HE severity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with psoriasis are at risk of a co‐morbid diagnosis of depression and/or anxiety. It is therefore essential for dermatologists to have valid and effective instruments that can screen and monitor depression and anxiety symptoms in psoriasis patients. Objective: The aim of this study was to validate the Mental Health Inventory (MHI‐5) as a brief measure that can be used to evaluate psychological distress related to anxiety and depression in psoriasis patients. Methods: The sample included 76 adult dermatological outpatients diagnosed with psoriasis. Participants completed the MHI‐5, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and six subscales of the Self‐Compassion Scale (SCS). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied to examine the factor structure of MHI‐5. Convergent validity was examined by applying correlations among all measures. Discriminant validity was examined by applying hierarchical regression models. Reliability was examined by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the proposed one‐factor model has a good fit to the data. The MHI‐5 demonstrated satisfactory convergent validity by yielding significant moderate to strong correlations with the HADS and with the positive and negative subscales of the SCS. Discriminant validity was also evident with being at risk of anxiety predicting MHI‐5 scores above and beyond the effect of gender and age. Hierarchical regressions were not performed because a very small number of participants (n = 3) were classified at risk of depression. The MHI‐5 showed high internal consistency (α = 0.84). Conclusion: This investigation provided evidence that MHI‐5 is a reliable and valid instrument that can be used to effectively capture psychological distress in psoriasis patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]