In 2005 Simmons and colleagues developed the Ostomy Adjustment Inventory-23 (OAI-23), a multidimensional, self report scale designed to measure social and psychological adjustment in patients with a faecal or urinary stoma. The inventory, which was validated in a large sample (N=570) of British ostomists, consists of four subscales measuring Acceptance, Self-Esteem, Social Engagement and Anger, salient components of the construct of psychosocial adjustment to illness. Cronbach's alpha ranges from a = .93 for the OAI-23 to .64 for the Anger subscale.  Test-retest (r) = .83.  It predicted trends in adjustment over time and correlated positively with Felton's (1984) Acceptance of Illness Scale, suggesting both concurrent and predictive validity.

There can be little doubt that the OAI-23 would interest researchers in the field. But how can it benefit patients in clinical practice?  Discussions with professionals involved in stoma care suggest that it could be useful in several respects. Foremost:

• It offers a more objective assessment of patients needing a referral to specialist psychological care, thus minimising the risk of patients in need of such support not receiving it.  

• It allows stoma therapists to identify unique stoma-related social or psychological problems (based on the subscales or the individual items) of the patient and tailor care accordingly. 

Following those discussions, we initiated a project in two centres in the UK to ascertain whether the OAI-23 helps practitioners to better identify a) the patients at risk of maladjustment and b) unique problem experienced by individual patients.   The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the outcomes of the project and to share our experiences with the use of the scale in practice.