Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of Breast Cancer and Lymphedema Symptom Experience Index

Background: Lymphedema is a common late and chronic adverse effect of breast cancer treatment. This study aimed to translate and evaluate the psychometric properties of the BCLE-SEI Spanish version with Spanish-speaking breast cancer patients. Method: 286 patients were recruited (2018 to 2020), from the Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias. Data analysis included descriptive statistics; internal consistency and test-retest reliability; principal component analysis and exploratory factor analysis; average variance extracted; and receiver operating characteristic curves. Results: No semantic modifications to items were needed. The scores of the instrument demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha =.95-.97; McDonald’s omega =.96-.98) and test-retest reliability (r =.78-.87, n = 29). A significant difference was observed between the lymphedema group and non-lymphedema group (p <.001) in terms of total scale, symptom occurrence (p <.001), symptom distress in the physical-functional (p <.001), and psychosocial dimension (p <.001). Principal component analysis for symptom occurrence revealed a unidimensional factor and two factors were identified for symptom distress via exploratory factor analysis, the two of which explained 45.71% and 54.77% of the total sample variance, respectively. Conclusions: This study provided initial evidence to support the psychometric properties of the BCLE-SEI Spanish version.