Disease-related stress in psoriasis - Validation of the Psoriasis-Alltagsstress-Inventars (PAI)

Background and Objective. Illness specific stress plays an important part i n the daily life of psoriatic patients. Until now for the measurement of re levant aspects of daily stress only the "Psoriasis Life Stress Inventory" ( PLSI) of Gupta & Gupta exists; with the "Psoriasis-Alltagsstress-Inventar" (PAI),a German version of the PLSI is presented and its psychometric proper ties are discussed. Patients/Methods. 385 in-patients completed the PAI. The internal validity was examined by factor analysis. Moreover, the correlations between the PAI total score and sociodemographic parameters (ANOVA) and extent of skin inv olvement (multiple regression) were determined. Results. The PLSI score proves to be sufficiently independent of age, sex, age at onset, and general extent of skin involvement. However, affections o f the hands,the lower abdomen and the genitals show a strong influence on t he total score. We found marked interrelations with the stigmatization feel ing ("Questionnaire on Experience with Skin Complaints" QES, Schmid-Ott et al.1998). Conclusions. The results suggest that the PAI is a useful and psychological ly relevant questionnaire for psoriatic patients.