Abstract
FABAG–Questionnaire for breathing complaints of allergic origin. Construction and initial results on reliability and validitiy
Objectives: The FABAG questionnaire was developed to identify people with allergic diseases when allergy testing is not possible or inappropriate.
Methods: Item selection and scale construction were performed using a questionnaire for taking medical history of allergic diseases in medical practice. Internal consistencies, retest reliability, discriminant analyses and ROC-analyses were computed.
Results: The first version of the questionnaire contained 103 items. These were reduced to 49 items. They constitute four complaint scales (rhinoconjunctivitis, skin symptoms, asthma, continuous colds) and three scales of trigger factors (seasonal type, perennial type, animal type). In addition allergy-related illness behavior constitutes a relevant psychological dimension. Internal consistencies for the main scales range from satisfying to very good, retest reliabilities from good to very good. The test seperates persons with positive versus negative skin testing for pollen high specifically.
Conclusion: The FABAG seems to be a useful instrument to identify subjects with allergic seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis.
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