Psychological distress among women with abnormal cervical cancer screening results in Poland: Validation of the Polish version of the Cervical Dysplasia Distress Questionnaire (CDDQ-PL)

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the validity and reliability of the Polish version of the Cervical Dysplasia Distress Questionnaire (CDDQ-PL) in women with abnormal cervical cancer screening results. METHODS: A cross-sectional validation study was conducted among 285 women referred to a colposcopy unit following an abnormal cervical cancer screening result. Psychometric evaluation included language and content validity, item analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency, and concurrent and convergent validity. Data were collected using a sociodemographic questionnaire, the CDDQ, an anxiety scale, and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 38.69 years (SD = 10.77). The mean total CDDQ-PL score was 2.21, with the highest distress observed for health consequences (3.02) and the lowest for embarrassment (1.47). Anxiety significantly decreased after the visit (6.51 ± 2.73 vs. 4.87 ± 2.95). Internal consistency was good, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from 0.830 to 0.919 across subscales. Total CDDQ-PL scores showed moderate positive correlations with anxiety before (r = 0.378, p < 0.001) and after the visit (r = 0.381, p < 0.001). Higher distress was associated with poorer quality of life, particularly in emotional well-being, pain, and energy/fatigue domains of the SF-36. CONCLUSIONS: The Polish version of the CDDQ demonstrated satisfactory validity and good internal consistency for assessing psychological distress in women with abnormal cervical cancer screening results. Its temporal stability requires confirmation in future test-retest studies.