Purpose: Although the physiological late effects of childhood cancer survivors are more obvious, appropriate assessment of psychosocial effects is needed. Therefore, it was aimed to develop a scale to evaluate psychosocial late effects in cancer survivors and to test its validity and reliability.
Design and methods: This methodological study was conducted with 100 children and adolescents who survived were collected at the oncology center in the south of Türkiye in 2022. Data were collected with the "Personal Information Form" and "Pediatric Cancer Survivors Psychosocial Late Effects Scale (PCSLES)" IBM SPSS 24.0 and IBM AMOS 24.0 software programs were used for data analysis, and descriptive statistics were used to analyze numeric variables. Exploration and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to determine the scale's factorial structure.
Results: The factorial analysis was used to test the structural validity of the scale. A four-factor structure consisting of 17 items was developed. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for "1" was 0.89, "2" was 0.87, "3" was 0.80, "4" was 0.82 and the total score was 0.92. Fit indices resulting from the study were χ2/SD: 1.497, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA): 0.071, goodnessof-fit index (GFI): 0.85, comparative-of-fit index (CFI): 0.94, and normed fit index (NFI): 0.85.
Conclusion: The scale is a valid and reliable scale that can be used to determine psychosocial late effects in pediatric cancer patients.
Practice implications: Utilizing the PCSLES can assist in identifying the psychosocial symptoms of child survivors/adolescents and facilitate the planning of appropriate interventions.
Keywords: Pediatric oncology survivors; Psychosocial late effects; Reliability; Validity.
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