Validation of the G reek version of Mini Tinnitus Questionnaire as a Brief Screening Test for Assessment of Tinnitus‐related Distress: our experience in 301 adult patients

Objectives Validation of the Greek version of Mini Tinnitus Questionnaire ( M ini‐ TQ ‐ GR ) as a Brief Screening Test for Assessment of Tinnitus‐related Distress. Design Questionnaire study. Setting 401 General Military Hospital of Athens/Department of Audiology – Neurootology, Athens, Greece. Participants Three hundred and one participants have anonymously completed the M ini‐ TQ ‐ GR , comparing it to the Perceived Stress Scale ( PSS 14) and Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale ( MΗL o C ) from November 2013 until May 2014. Main outcome measure Mini‐ TQ ‐ GR , compared to PSS 14 and MΗL o C . Results Factor analysis, has shown that the M ini‐ TQ ‐ GR includes three main factors (Distress, Health pre‐occupation and Depression), which explains the 59.05% of the total variance. The Cronbach alpha index was 0.865 approaching the respective reliability factor of the original validation (0.9). The test–retest correlation (intraclass correlation coefficient) was 0.9 ( P  < 0.01), close to the results of the original study (0.89). We found a positive correlation between tinnitus and perceived stress ( r  = 0.349**) and negative correlation between tinnitus and external locus of control ( r  = −0.124*, r  = −0.198**) (chance, others). Conclusions This study demonstrated that the M ini‐ TQ ‐ GR has good internal consistency and reliability becoming a useful, validated measurement tool for tinnitus‐induced distress.