Department of Urology, University Medical Center Groningen, 9700 RB Groningen, The Netherlands.
Department of Urology, Rijnstate Hospital, 6815 AD Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 5;19(15):9650. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159650.
Lower urinary tract symptoms are common complaints in ageing people. For a urological evaluation of such complaints in men, the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) is used worldwide. Previous quantitative studies have revealed serious problems in completing this questionnaire. In order to gain insight into the nature and causes of these problems, we conducted a qualitative study. Not only the purely verbal IPSS was studied but also two alternatives, including pictograms: the Visual Prostate Symptom Score (VPSS) and the Score Visuel Prostatique en Image (SVPI). Men aged 40 years and over with an inadequate level of health literacy (IHL; = 18) or an adequate level of health literacy (AHL; = 47) participated. Each participant filled out one of the three questionnaires while thinking aloud. The analysis of their utterances revealed problems in both health literacy groups with form-filling tasks and subtasks for all three questionnaires. Most noticeable were the problems with the IPSS; the terminology and layout of this form led to difficulties. In the VPSS and SVPI, the pictograms sometimes raised problems. As in previous research on form-filling behavior, an overestimation by form designers of form fillers' knowledge and skills seems to be an important explanation for the problems observed.
下尿路症状是老年人常见的主诉。对于男性此类主诉的泌尿科评估，国际前列腺症状评分（IPSS）在全球范围内使用。之前的定量研究已经揭示了完成该问卷存在严重问题。为了深入了解这些问题的性质和原因，我们进行了一项定性研究。我们不仅研究了纯粹的口头 IPSS，还研究了两种替代方法，包括图像：视觉前列腺症状评分（VPSS）和 Score Visuel Prostatique en Image（SVPI）。参与者为年龄在 40 岁及以上、健康素养不足（IHL； = 18）或健康素养足够（AHL； = 47）的男性。每位参与者在大声思考的同时填写了三份问卷中的一份。对他们言论的分析揭示了在两个健康素养组中，所有三个问卷的填表任务和子任务都存在问题。最值得注意的是 IPSS 存在问题；该表格的术语和布局导致了困难。在 VPSS 和 SVPI 中，图像有时会引发问题。与之前关于填表行为的研究一样，表格设计者对表格填写者的知识和技能的过高估计似乎是观察到的问题的一个重要解释。
