abstract
- © 2019 Universidad Miguel Hernandez. All rights reserved.Theoretical Framework: Distress is an unpleasant emotional experience that can interfere with the effective coping of the cancer process. The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) is frequently used in cancer patients to measure distress. Objective: To describe the distribution of the Brief Inventory of Symptoms (BSI-18) and compare it with normative distribution of Derogatis, and compare the percentage of cases of distress and BSI-18 total score average with other studies. Methods: An intentional non-probabilistic sampling was used. The BSI-18 was applied to 203 Mexican women treated for breast cancer. Results: The distribution of BSI-18 total score showed positive asymmetry, did not fit to a normal curve, and was statically equivalent to the one of Derogatis. The percentage of cases of distress, using as a cut-off point the T score of 63 with the Derogatis norms, was 14.8%, which was a statistically equivalent percentage to the one of Derogatis (10%), but lower than those ones of other studies (mean percentage around to 30%). The arithmetic mean was statistically equivalent to the one of Derogatis. Conclusions: The BSI-18 should be scaled by percentiles, and the Derogatis norms are valid among Mexican women.