The burn specific health scale-brief: Measurement invariant across European countries

Abstract

Background: The Burn Specific Health Scale Brief (BSHS-B), which is the only multidimensional measure to evaluate burn-specific aspects of health status, has previously been validated in several languages across the world. However, the stability of the underlying construct was not cross-culturally evaluated. The current study reports on measurement invariance across two samples of Swedish-and Dutch-speaking patients with burns. Methods: In a prospective study, 231 and 275 Swedish and Dutch-Belgian patients with burns, completed the BSHS-B at 9 or 12 months, respectively, after burn. Using a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance across languages (Swedish and Dutch) was tested. Results: The Results of the confirmatory factor analysis in the total sample revealed that the scale structure for the earlier reported three-factor structure and the original nine-factor structure was adequate. However, an eight-factor structure in which hand function and simple abilities were merged provided the best fit. This structure was used to test measurement invariance across the two language groups. The two-group outcomes testing measurement invariance across Swedish-and Dutch-speaking patients indicated a stable, configural invariance. Conclusion: The BSHS-B seems to function uniformly across both language groups. The BSHS-B can be used to compare cross-cultural Results in both countries. Level Of Evidence: Prognostic study, level III. © 2013 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.