Translation and validation of the instrument for the oral health-related quality of life assessment in 3 to 5 years old children in Bosnia-Herzegovina

During 2007. in the U.S. was developed the questionnaire for caregivers with 13 items for assessing the oral health-related quality of life in children 3-5 years of age, The Early Childhood Oral Health ImpactScale, The ECOHIS. The aim of this study was to perform the fi rst part of the adaptation process for this instrument in Bosnia-Herzegovina: translation, cross-cultural adaptation and the comprehensibility testing.Methods: ECOHIS was translated from English into the one of the languages in Bosnia-Herzegovina using a standardized forward-backward translation method. Two licensed, professional English-language translators, one dentist and one pediatrician, participated in the development of the preliminary BH-ECOHIS version. All translators were native Bosnian speakers. After translation and adaptation of ECOHIS to Bosnia and Herzegovina setting, pilot-research was performed in order to check the comprehensibility of the questionnaire.Results: The original and the back-translated version were the same. Because not all children in Bosnia-Herzegovina attend preschool, school or daycare, we replaced the question number fi ve from the originalEnglish version “missed preschool, daycare or school“ with “had difficulties in everyday activities”. Translated and culturally adapted version of the ECOHIS was applied in a form of an interview (N=16). Parents/caregivershad no diffi culties to understand the questionnaire.Conclusions: BH-ECOHIS showed excellent comprehensibility. Next step in the validation process should be the testing of its measurement characteristic.