Validation of the concerns about epilepsy monitoring questionnaire (CAEMQ) - a measure of the concerns of epilepsy patients presenting for surgery

Abstract

Epilepsy patients undergoing monitoring for possible surgery may prematurely curtail the procedure at some cost to themselves and to the hospital. Existing psychometric scales do not identify the underlying anxieties and stressors that prompt the patients to leave the monitoring process. The Concerns About Epilepsy Monitoring Questionnaire (CAEMQ) was designed to identify these concerns. An initial questionnaire was constructed from multiple sources of information. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to refine the CAEMQ and determine its factor structure. Using a varimax rotation, six factors were revealed which contributed to 70.1% of the variance. 1. Information about surgery (alpha 0.86). 2. Personal concerns - family and pecuniary (alpha 0.85). 3. Information about monitoring (alpha 0.80). 4. Coping alone (alpha 0.77). 5. Denial (alpha 0.76). 6. Support from others (alpha 0.74). Test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was fully adequate with r ranging from 0.86 to 0.60. An acceptable level of concurrent validity of the CAEMQ was also found when assessing the relationship between CAEMQ subscales and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-state anxiety 0.31, STAI-trait anxiety 0.28) measures. The use of the test as a measure of anxiety in surgical conditions is discussed.