Psychometric properties and longitudinal measurement invariance of the treatment-induced neuropathy assessment scale in the Chinese cancer chemotherapy population

Treatment-induced peripheral neuropathy is one of the most complex toxicities to diagnose and manage in cancer patients. The severity and course of neuropathy across various cancer treatments are widely assessed using the Treatment-Induced Neuropathy Assessment Scale (TNAS). However, the psychometric properties and longitudinal measurement invariance of TNAS have not been evaluated in non-Western samples. The purpose of this study was to evaluate psychometric properties and longitudinal measurement invariance of the TNAS in Chinese cancer patients. A quantitative survey with a longitudinal design was used in this study. A total of 361 patients were included and data were collected at three-time points. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), convergent validity, longitudinal measurement invariance, criterion validity, and internal consistency reliability were evaluated. In this study, CFA supported the 2-factor structure of the original TNAS construct at three time points. The composite reliability (CR) and the average variance extracted (AVE) indicated that the TNAS had good convergent validity. Furthermore, TNAS exhibited strong measurement invariance over time with good reliability across different time points. The correlation between TNAS and EORTC QLQ-CIPN20 showed good criterion validity. Moreover, the TNAS and sub-scales had high internal consistency at three time points. Thus, TNAS is a reliable and valid instrument with adequate psychometric properties and temporal stability for measuring treatment-induced peripheral neuropathy and tracking changes in neuropathy symptoms.