The Reliability and Validity of the Turkish Form of the Somatosensory Amplification Scale

Objective: In this study, the authors aimed to investigate the reliability and validity of the Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS) that was developed by Barsky et al. in the Turkish population. Method: The study was carried out with 42 patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome and Asthma Diseases attending to outpatient Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation and Chest Diseases clinics and 86 healthy students from Karadeniz Technical Univercity (KTU). Results: SSAS scores were normally distributed, and had acceptable test-retest reliability (r: 0.73) and internal consistency (a, 0.62-0.76). Item to scale correlations varied from 0.10 to 0.72, and most were highly significant. Whereas, one item (item 1) in the control group and one item (item 2) in the patient group had low item-total score correlation (r<0.15). Criterion related validity of SSAS was shown with significant correlation between Symptom Interpretation Questionnaire, Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Symptom Check List 90 Revised somatization subscale. The validity analysis of the scale resulted in a very high significant difference (p<0.01) between the mean SSAS scores of the control and the patient group. Discussion: ITest-retest, internal reliability, and item-total score correlation, discriminating power for specific groups and criterion related validity of the SSAS show that the scale has acceptable reliability and validity for the Turkish population.