Development of the psychosomatic symptom scale (PSSS) and assessment of its reliability and validity in general hospital patients in China

Abstract Objectives To develop and verify the Psychosomatic Symptom Scale (PSSS) among psychosomatic patients and the cut-off value of PSSS in distinguishing psychosomatic patients from health controls. Methods The PSSS was drafted by an expert workgroup. 996 patients and 366 controls from 14 general hospitals in China were recruited to complete PSSS, Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15) and Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). Student's t-test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Cronbach's α, Spearman's correlation, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to verify the PSSS. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were used to determine the cut-off value. Results Cronbach α of PSSS was 0.907. The PSSS was significantly correlated with SCL-90 somatization subscale (r = 0.682, P  Conclusions The PSSS is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring psychosomatic symptoms.