[A prospective evaluation of psychometric items in patients with nasal deformities].

BACKGROUND

Patient satisfaction with surgical outcome is essential in plastic reconstructive surgery, yet no German-language psychometrically validated instrument exist for assessing satisfaction with surgery in the head and neck area. Previously, the short form of the "Frankfurter Selbstkonzeptskalen/FSKN" showed mixed results in a sample of patients undergoing correction of microtia.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

This short form was tested in 22 patients following septorhinoplasty and in 24 following tonsillectomy, regarding its psychometric characteristics.

RESULTS

While showing good practical characteristics and content validity, there were disappointing results in responsiveness to change and known group's discriminant validity.

CONCLUSIONS

Beside sample size, different psychological mechanisms in more common malformations of the head neck area, especially in patients with nasal deformities, have to be further explored as they are not sufficiently represented in the short form of FSKN.