• Laura M Bogart, Marika J Suttorp, Marc N Elliott, J Quentin Clemens, and Sandra H Berry.
• Division of General Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, 21 Autumn Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA. laura.bogart@childrens.harvard.edu
• Qual Life Res. 2012 Nov 1; 21 (9): 1665-70.

PurposeTo validate a disease-specific scale to measure the impact of symptoms of bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC), a condition that affects up to 6.5% of U.S. women.MethodsParticipants were drawn from the RAND Interstitial Cystitis Epidemiology (RICE) Study, a telephone probability survey of 146,231 US households. Women who met RICE BPS/IC symptom criteria (n = 3,397) completed the 6-item RAND Bladder Symptom Impact scale (RICE BSI-6). The RICE BSI-6 was adapted from a scale used to assess the impact of diabetes on life and sexuality and modified based on expert input on face validity and focus group work; items specific to diabetic symptoms were eliminated. Validated scales of symptom severity, mental- and physical-health-related quality of life (QoL), depression, coping, and perceived control were used to assess convergent validity.ResultsThe RICE BSI-6 (α = 0.92) was significantly related to greater symptom severity, worse general mental- and physical-health-related QoL, more severe depression symptoms, and lower perceived control over life in general and over BPS/IC symptoms (P values < .05). It was also associated with less use of distancing coping (P < .05).ConclusionThe RICE BSI-6 shows excellent internal consistency and strong convergent validity. It can be used to examine the effects of psychosocial and treatment interventions on QoL among women with BPS/IC.

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