QUALITY OF LIFE AND POTENTIALLY MALIGNANT ORAL DISORDERS: ADAPTATION OF A QUESTIONNAIRE

Abstract

<h3>Objectives</h3> To perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the Quality-of-Life questionnaire for patients with oral potentially malignant disorders (QQV-DOPM) for the Brazilian context. <h3>Study Design</h3> Methodological study consisting of the following stages: (1) conceptual and item equivalence and (2) semantic equivalence (translation, back-translation, evaluation by the committee of judges; <i>n</i> = 13), pretest, and operational equivalence. The study was approved by the research ethics committee. <h3>Results</h3> It was found that the domains (difficulty in diagnosis, physical limitations, psychosocial impacts, and treatment effects) and the 20 items of the questionnaire are relevant to Brazil. The interrater agreement was 84% for the comprehensiveness of the domains. In the analysis of item clarity, the result of the overall calculation of the content validity index was 0.84 and for representativeness it was 0.89. The pretest with the target population revealed 100% acceptability. <h3>Conclusions</h3> The study adapted the QQV-DOPM for the Brazilian context. The indicators of content validation, pretest, and operational equivalence indicated that the Brazilian version of the QQV-DOPM is a promising instrument and a tool that seems valid to assess the quality of life of people with potentially malignant oral disorders.