Somatic symptoms scale: Psychometric properties in clinical and normal sample

Objective: to develop a somatic symptoms scale based on the criteria of standard symptoms,and to examine its psychometric properties through exploratory factor analysis. method: the study was conducted from january,2010 to may,2011 at two teaching hospitals in lahore city and comprised female adolescents with somatic symptoms diagnosed by a psychiatrist,and an equal number of adolescents with minor physical disability. all patients were recruited from psychiatric out- 150 female adolescentswith somatic symptoms and equal number of femaleswithminor disability. the overallmean agewas 15.50+/-1.67 years (range: 14-17 years).exploratory factor analysis showed that the two groups were significantly different on conversion motor symptoms (p<0.001),conversion sensory symptoms (p<0.001),pain symptoms (p<0.001),hypochondriacal symptoms (p<0.001) and body dysmorphic symptoms (p<0.001). conclusion: the somatic symptoms scale was found to be a valid and reliable measure which can be used as screening instrument for non-clinical population and as a diagnostic measure in clinical population. © 2016,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.