Abstract
Background:Quality of life is an important outcome measure used both in research and patient care across all cultural healthcare settings. Objective:This study is aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of interviewer-administered Tamil translated University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire (Version 4) in a setting with low literacy. Methods:The study was done in a tertiary care teaching institute in Puducherry, South India. The translation was done by using ‘forward-backward translation method.’ A hundred subjects diagnosed with head and neck cancer (HNC) were interviewed before the initiation of treatment. The Tamil version of University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire (UWQOL) questionnaire was validated using the Tamil version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) version. Inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability was also assessed. Item-total correlation and Cronbach alpha were calculated for assessing validity and internal consistency respectively. Results:In the Tamil version of UWQOL, social-emotional subscale was more affected than physical subscale. The domains such as mood, anxiety, and pain were most affected. The subscale scores were significantly different between those with early and late cancer. Tamil version of UWQOL showed moderate correlation with WHOQOL-BREF. The Tamil version of UWQOL had good test-retest and inter-rater agreement. Item-total correlation for the subscales was >0.80. The internal consistency of the Tamil Questionnaire was acceptable with Cronbach Alpha of 0.69. Conclusion:The Tamil version of UWQOL questionnaire is a short, valid and reliable for HNC patients of low literacy.
Highlights
International Agency for Research on Cancer’s online database ‘Global Cancer Incidence Mortality and Prevalence’ (GLOBOCAN) 2018 estimates that the 18.1 million new cancer cases and 9.6 million cancer deaths in 2018 (Bray et al, 2018; International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2018)
A hundred subjects diagnosed with head and neck cancer (HNC) were interviewed before the initiation of treatment
In the Tamil version of University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire (UWQOL), social-emotional subscale was more affected than physical subscale
Summary
International Agency for Research on Cancer’s online database ‘Global Cancer Incidence Mortality and Prevalence’ (GLOBOCAN) 2018 estimates that the 18.1 million new cancer cases and 9.6 million cancer deaths in 2018 (Bray et al, 2018; International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2018). Head and neck cancer contribute to 5% of all cancers These cancers are treated with guidelines derived mostly from research findings from the Western world. The Oncology societies in India recommend researchers to generate evidence for the management of head and neck cancer in the Indian context and encourage the use of health related quality of life as an outcome measure (Shah et al, 2016). Objective: This study is aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of interviewer-administered Tamil translated University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire (Version 4) in a setting with low literacy. The Tamil version of UWQOL had good test-retest and inter-rater agreement. Conclusion: The Tamil version of UWQOL questionnaire is a short, valid and reliable for HNC patients of low literacy
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