Psychometric Evaluation of the Serbian Version of the Southampton Dupuytren's Scoring Scheme in Patients with Dupuytren's Contracture.

Background/

Objectives

Dupuytren's contracture is a chronic fibroproliferative disorder of the palmar fascia that leads to progressive flexion deformities and functional impairment. The Southampton Dupuytren's Scoring Scheme (SDSS) is a disease-specific patient-reported outcome measure designed to quantify disability in this condition. This study aimed to translate, culturally adapt, and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Serbian version of the SDSS.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Institute for Orthopedic Surgery "Banjica", Belgrade, from January 2024 to March 2025. Sixty-eight patients with Dupuytren's contracture completed the Serbian SDSS, the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire, the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12), and a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain. Translation followed standardized forward-backward procedures. Internal consistency was assessed with Cronbach's alpha, construct validity with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and convergent validity with Pearson's correlation coefficients.

Results

The Serbian SDSS demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.914). CFA supported a unidimensional five-item structure with strong factor loadings (0.76-0.93) and acceptable fit indices (χ2 = 10.094, df = 5, p = 0.073; IFI = 0.979; CFI = 0.978; TLI = 0.956). Convergent validity was confirmed by strong correlations with DASH (r = 0.779) and VAS (r = 0.702) and a strong negative correlation with SF-12 PCS (r = -0.802).

Conclusions

The Serbian SDSS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing functional disability in patients with Dupuytren's contracture and offers a robust, patient-centered measure for clinical and research use.