The Skindex: an instrument to measure Quality of Life in Dermatology. A psychometric comparison between long and short version in a group of psoriasis patients - Psoriasis is one of the prevalent skin diseases in the World. This chronic condition has a significant negative impact on patients’ quality of life (QoL). The Skindex-29 is a selfadministered questionnaire assessing QoL of patients with skin diseases in 3 domains: burden of symptoms, social functioning, and emotional responses. Recently, authors (Nijsten et al., 2006) have developed a short version made up by 17 item that measures two dimensions: burden of symptoms and psychosocial responses. The aim of present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the both versions: original (Skindex-29) and short version (Skindex-17). Confirmatory factor analyses, conducted on a group of 360 psoriasis patients, supported the construct validity of the Skindex-17. Adequate internal consistency and significant distress correlations were found. Overall results suggested that Skindex-17 represented a brief and easily administrable questionnaire as well as a useful tool for both clinicians and researchers interested to assess QoL of psoriasis patients.
Key words: psoriasis, quality of life, measurement, skindex, confirmative analyses
Parole chiave: psoriasi, qualità di vita, misura, skindex, analisi confermative