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Validation of the scleroderma health assessment questionnaire and quality of life in E nglish and C hinese‐speaking patients with systemic sclerosis
Author(s) -
Ng Xinyi,
Thumboo Julian,
Low Andrea H. L.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of rheumatic diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1756-185X
pISSN - 1756-1841
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-185x.2012.01731.x
Subject(s) - medicine , intraclass correlation , quality of life (healthcare) , convergent validity , construct validity , physical therapy , visual analogue scale , rheumatology , scleroderma (fungus) , health assessment , outpatient clinic , validity , psychometrics , clinical psychology , pathology , nursing , inoculation , internal consistency
Aims To perform cross‐cultural adaptation and validation of the S cleroderma H ealth A ssessment Q uestionnaire ( S ‐ HAQ ) and S ystemic S clerosis Q uality of L ife scale ( SS c‐ Q o L ) in E nglish and C hinese‐speaking patients with SS c. Methods In this I nstitutional R eview B oard approved study, patients seen at the rheumatology outpatient clinics were consecutively recruited over a 10‐month period. We evaluated: (i) test–retest reliability using the intraclass correlation coefficient ( ICC ); (ii) known‐groups construct validity by stratifying patients according to organ involvement and symptom severity; and (iii) convergent validity using S pearman's correlation with S hort F orm 36 version 2 ( SF 36v2). Results Forty‐nine SS c patients completed the questionnaires: 26 C hinese, 23 E nglish; 30 self‐administered, 19 interviewer‐administered, of which 35 responded to the retest. The SS c‐ Q o L , HAQ D isability I ndex, intestinal V isual A nalogue S cale ( VAS ), breathing VAS and overall disease severity VAS demonstrated high reliability ( ICC s 0.71–0.93). The intestinal, finger ulcer and breathing S ‐ HAQ VAS s were able to differentiate patients according to their respective organ involvement. As hypothesized, the S ‐ HAQ correlated better with the P hysical S ummary C omponent ( PCS ) than the M ental S ummary C omponent ( MCS ) scores of the SF 36v2. The SS c‐ Q o L also demonstrated good convergent validity with the SF 36v2 scales. Conclusion In this pilot study, we provided preliminary evidence to demonstrate the good test–retest reliability and reasonable construct validity of S ‐ HAQ and SS c‐ Q o L for use in E nglish and C hinese‐speaking SS c patients. This forms the basis for future studies to assess more extensively their psychometric properties.