Validity and reliability of hausa version of the oswestry disability index

Background: Translation of psychometrically sound instruments into different local languages is perceived to allow easy accessibility and understanding of the instruments. There is a dearth of valid and reliable versions of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) in Nigerian languages. The purpose of this study was to translate and establish the psychometric properties of the Hausa version of the ODI (ODI-H). Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 100 (50 males and females respectively) patients with chronic LBP from six purposively selected outpatient physiotherapy departments in the Northern part of Nigeria. The ‘translation backward translation’ method was used to translate the English version of ODI into the Hausa language. The English version of the ODI, ODI-H and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were administered to respondents in this study. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Alpha level was set at p<0.05. Results: The mean age of participants was 44.5±12.8 years. The mean disability score on the English version of ODI and ODI-H was 16.3±6.66 and 17.7±7.13 respectively. The mean ODI-H score on 7-days retest was 17.8±6.87. The mean VAS score of the respondents was 5.62±2.00. The mean time for completion of the ODI-H was 6 minutes. There was significant correlation between VAS score and ODI-H (r=0.665; p=0.001); English and ODI and ODI-H (r= 0. 914; p=0.001), and the test-retest of ODI-H (r=0.969; p= 0.001) respectively. The Cronbach-alpha and ICC value for the validity and test-retest reliability of the ODI was 0.961 and 0.924; and 0.987 and 0.973 respectively. Conclusion: The Hausa version of the ODI has excellent reliability and validity and may be an appropriate outcome tool for evaluating functional disability among Hausa speaking patients with chronic LBP. Therefore, the ODI-H is an appropriate outcome tool for clinical and research purposes among Hausa speaking patients with LBP.