The Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer (MAX-PC) was developed in its English version to assess anxiety in people with prostate cancer. Since there was no French version, the aim of our study was to translate and evaluate the psychometric properties of the 3-factors initial English scale on a sample of French men.

The MAX-PC was translated from English to French and distributed online by two associations (Seintinelles and ANAMACaP). The questionnaire, consisting of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Short Form-12 (SF12) and Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) scales, was intended for patients over 18 years of age who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer for less than 12 months. Factor structure was analyzed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on 56.2% of respondents (n=104) and confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the rest of the sample (n=81). To measure the reliability of the scale, we used the Cronbach's alpha and construct validity was evaluated by the correlation between MAX-PC, HADS and SF12 scales and their subscales.

185 patients responded to our questionnaire, of which 168 responded to all items of the MAX-PC scale. The average age of participants was 65.1 years SD (7.70). The EFA and CFA confirms the same structure as the original version. The French version demonstrated a good reliability since Cronbach alpha coefficient for the total score and the three subscales were 0.92, 0.90, 0.68 and 0.87, respectively. It was also shown a strong validity. In addition, the MAX-PC total score was correlated highly with HADS-Anxiety (r=0.68, p<0.001) and SF12-Mental health (r=−0.35, p<0.001).

The MAX-PC scale has shown good reliability and validity among French men. We believe that its use in future studies and routine clinical care will better identify patients for whom a psychological support would be needed to decrease prostate cancer related anxiety.