Development and validation of a scale to measure socioeconomic well-being in persons with cancer

Socioeconomic factors substantially impact the quality of life (QOL) of persons diagnosed with cancer, yet socioeconomic well-being seldom is included as an essential domain when overall QOL is measured. This study details the development and psychometric analysis of a scale for measuring socioeconomic well-being in persons diagnosed with cancer. Coleman's theory of social class was used to define and develop the construct. The resulting scale consisting of two subscales--Material and Social Capital-demonstrated acceptable reliability, content and construct validity at both scale and item levels, and acceptable discriminant, convergent, and incremental validity.