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The Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) scale: A methodological review.
- Source :
-
Health & Quality of Life Outcomes . 2004, Vol. 2, p45-8. 8p. 6 Charts. - Publication Year :
- 2004
-
Abstract
- Background: This paper compiles data from different sources to get a first comprehensive picture of psychometric and other methodological characteristics of the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) scale. The scale was designed and standardized as a self-administered scale to (a) to assess symptoms/complaints of aging women under different conditions, (b) to evaluate the severity of symptoms over time, and (c) to measure changes pre- and postmenopause replacement therapy. The scale became widespread used (available in 10 languages). Method: A large multinational survey (9 countries in 4 continents) from 2001/2002 is the basis for in depth analyses on reliability and validity of the MRS. Additional small convenience samples were used to get first impressions about test-retest reliability. The data were centrally analyzed. Data from a postmarketing HRT study were used to estimate discriminative validity. Results: Reliability measures (consistency and test-retest stability) were found to be good across countries, although the sample size for test-retest reliability was small. Validity: The internal structure of the MRS across countries was astonishingly similar to conclude that the scale really measures the same phenomenon in symptomatic women. The sub-scores and total score correlations were high (0.7-0.9) but lower among the sub-scales (0.5-0.7). This however suggests that the subscales are not fully independent. Norm values from different populations were presented showing that a direct comparison between Europe and North America is possible, but caution recommended with comparisons of data from Latin America and Indonesia. But this will not affect intra-individual comparisons within clinical trials. The comparison with the Kupperman Index showed sufficiently good correlations, illustrating an adept criterion-oriented validity. The same is true for the comparison with the generic quality-of-life scale SF-36 where also a sufficiently close association has been shown. Conclusion: The currently available methodological evidence points towards a high quality of the MRS scale to measure and to compare HRQoL of aging women in different regions and over time, it suggests a high reliability and high validity as far as the process of construct validation could be completed yet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *MENOPAUSE
*PSYCHOMETRICS
*OLDER women
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14777525
- Volume :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Health & Quality of Life Outcomes
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 28747809
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7525-2-45