Translation and cultural adaptation of the Persian version of Vestibular Disorders Activities of Daily Living scale (VADL): a validity and reliability study

Abstract

Background

Vestibular disorders can lead to functional limitations and deficits in performing routine daily life tasks. The Vestibular Disorders Activities of Daily Living scale (VADL) is a useful tool for impact assessment level of functional limitations in patients with vestibular disorders.

Objective

Translation, cultural adaptation and evaluation of the reliability and validity of VADL to Persian.

Methods

In this analytical–descriptive study, VADL was translated based on the native protocol of the International Quality of Life questionnaire and adapted to the conditions found in Iranian culture. Upon confirmation of face validity, this scale was performed on 90 Persian patients with vestibular disorders (aged between 25 and 85 years). After one week, 53 participants were asked to complete the questionnaire again. Finally, reliability was evaluated with both methods of internal consistency and test-retest reproducibility.

Results

Five items out of 28 were modified to adapt the scale to the culture of Iranians, and they were approved by the original designer of the questionnaire. Internal consistency was confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.94, and repeatability was confirmed by the Interclass Correlation Coefficient of 0.97.

Conclusion

The Persian version of VADL was relatively equivalent to the original content and it was in compliance with the terms of Persian culture with high validity and reliability. Therefore, it may be a useful tool for the assessment of functional limitation in some patients with vestibular disorders.

Keywords:

• Validity
• reliability
• vestibular disorders
• activities of daily living scale

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Mehdi Akbari, Dr. Fatemeh Jaafarloo, Dr. Reza Hosein Abadi, Dr. Moslem Shaabani, Mr. AbdolReza Sheybanizadeh, Dr. Mansooreh Adel Ghahreman, Dr. Maliheh Mazaheryazdi, Mrs. Masoumeh Rouzbahani, Dr. Parvane Mahdi that helped us to perform this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).