TURKISH VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY STUDY OF A SYMPTOM SCREENING TOOL (MINI-SSPedi) IN 4-7-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN RECEIVING CANCER TREATMENT.

This research was carried out to adapt the Symptom Screening in Pediatrics Tool for Turkish children with cancer aged 4-7 years, and to evaluate its validity and reliability. This study, which was descriptive and methodological, was conducted on 159 children receiving cancer treatments between June 2021 and December 2021. Data collection tools included a socio-demographic form and the Symptom Screening in Pediatrics Tool for children aged 4-7 years (mini-SSPedi). Data were analyzed using Cronbach's alpha, factor analysis, and item-total score analysis. There were 15 items on the mini-SSPedi, and it had one dimension. The results of the exploratory factor analysis indicated that total factor loading was >0.30 and that the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value was 0.831. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the fit indices were χ/sd: 1.739 (p=0.000), GFI 0.895, CFI 0.919, TLI 0.897, RMSEA 0.068 and SRMR 0.064. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the total scale was 0.846. The correlation between the items and total scale score ranged between 0.411 and 0.749. The mini-SSPedi was found to be a valid and reliable scale for the Turkish sample. The mini-SSPedi can contribute to determination of symptom screening in children with cancer aged 4-7 years.