The Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the SIRS: A Social Isolation Risk Scale for Survivors of Head and Neck Cancer

头颈部癌症(HNC)幸存者有独特的生存挑战(例如面部毁容)，这 往往会导致社会孤立。为了解决社会孤立和防止相关的负面健康后果，它是 对于确定面临社会孤立风险的HNC幸存者至关重要。目前，这些努力受到缺乏资金的阻碍。 筛查工具既足够简单，可以在快节奏的诊所中常规使用，又可以捕捉风险 HNC独有的加剧社会孤立的因素。因此，这项建议的总体目的是 编制并进行社会隔离风险量表(SIRS)的初步心理测量评估，a 简短的筛选工具，以确定处于社会孤立风险的HNC幸存者。目标1：发展SIRS：项目库 第(1a)代：我们的团队将使用归纳和演绎方法来生成潜在规模池 项目(即HNC幸存者在社会上孤立的原因、一般社会隔离风险因素)至 我们顾问委员会的HNC幸存者成员与HNC、社会孤立和 测量，以及文献综述。项目库优化(1b)：我们将通过以下方式优化项目库 对N=30名社会孤立的HNC幸存者进行一对一采访。我们将就项目相关性征求反馈意见 (量化等级1到5，数值越高表示相关性越大)、项目的添加/删除(项目将 如果70%的受访者赞成添加/删除，则添加/删除)，并建议通过 质量反馈。在第1b期结束时，我们将有~16项SIRS(~8项与非物理相关 社会隔离危险因素和与身体社会隔离危险因素有关的~8项)，进行初步调查 目标2b期间的心理测量评估。目标2：管理(2a)并进行初步心理测量 对SIRS的评价(2b)。2A。我们将进行为期3个月的纵向研究，在这项研究中，我们将实施 SIRS，一项人口统计调查，以及一系列经过验证的社交孤立、普遍痛苦、 孤独感、社会连通性、社会可取性和与HNC相关的生活质量，N=130 HNC幸存者在 6个月(T1)和9个月(T2)的治疗后完成访问。2B。我们将进行初步的表演 SIRS的心理测量学分析，评估项目属性和SIRS属性，以及执行 因子分析。根据事先建立的指导方针，我们将选择最终一组项目为 SIRS，目标是总共~10项(~5项与身体危险因素有关，~5项与非危险因素有关 身体风险因素)。这一项目意义重大，因为它将改善大量(在 至少36%)，并将作为识别和预防#年社会孤立的典范 其他高危群体；和(B)创新，因为它从不同的角度处理问题--侧重于 负面结果的根本原因(即社会孤立)，而不是负面结果本身。

Head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors have unique survivorship challenges (e.g., facial disfigurement), which often lead to social isolation. To address social isolation and prevent associated negative health outcomes, it is critical to identify HNC survivors at risk for social isolation. Currently, these efforts are hampered by a lack of screening tools that are both sufficiently brief to be used routinely in a fast-paced clinic and capture the risk factors unique to HNC that potentiate social isolation. Hence, the overall purpose of this proposal is to develop and conduct a preliminary psychometric evaluation of the Social Isolation Risk Scale (SIRS), a brief screening tool to identify HNC survivors at risk for social isolation. Aim 1: Develop the SIRS: Item pool generation (1a): Our team will use inductive and deductive methods to generate a pool of potential scale items (i.e., reasons why HNC survivors socially isolate, general social isolation risk factors) through discussions among HNC survivor members of our advisory board, and experts in HNC, social isolation, and measurement, as well as a literature review. Item pool refinement (1b): We will refine the item pool through 1-on-1 interviews with N = 30 socially isolated HNC survivors. We will solicit feedback on item relevance (quantitative scale 1 to 5, higher values indicate more relevance), addition/deletion of items (items will be added/deleted if 70% of those asked endorse addition/deletion), and suggestions for alternative wording via qualitative feedback. At the conclusion of 1b, we will have a ~16-item SIRS (~8 items related to non-physical social isolation risk factors and ~8 items related to physical social isolation risk factors), to undergo preliminary psychometric evaluation during Aim 2b. Aim 2: Administer (2a) and conduct preliminary psychometric evaluation (2b) of the SIRS. 2a. We will conduct a 3-month longitudinal study, in which we will administer the SIRS, a demographic survey, and a battery of validated assessments of social isolation, general distress, loneliness, social connectedness, social desirability, and HNC-related quality of life, to N=130 HNC survivors at their 6-month (T1) and 9-month (T2) post-treatment completion visits. 2b. We will perform preliminary psychometric analyses of the SIRS, evaluating both items’ properties and SIRS’ properties, as well as perform a factor analysis. Based on a priori established guidelines, we will select a final set of items to retain for the SIRS, with the goal of ~10 items in total (~5 items related to physical risk factors and ~5 items related to non- physical risk factors). This project is (a) significant, as it will improve the long-term health of a substantial (at least 36%) subset of HNC survivors and will serve as a model for identifying and preventing social isolation in other at-risk groups; and (b) innovative, as it approaches the problem from a different perspective- focusing on the root cause (i.e., social isolation) of negative outcomes, rather than the negative outcomes themselves.