ICF domains covered by the Tinnitus Questionnaire and Tinnitus Functional Index

Abstract

Purpose

Tinnitus frequently causes disability as it affects daily living, which is objectified using several tinnitus questionnaires. To what extent they cover domains of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is currently unknown. Therefore, this study aims to investigate which ICF domains are measured by two questionnaires and to describe the health status of somatic tinnitus patients in ICF terms.

Materials and methods

All questions of the Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ) and Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) were linked to the ICF using linking rules. A count-based method was used to link all individual answers of 80 tinnitus patients, to the ICF categories.

Results

Most of the linked questions concerned “body functions”. TFI covered more categories of “activity and participation” than TQ. Patients reported severe impairments in “mental functions”, “sensory functions and pain”, and “sleep functions”. Additionally, severe limitations were scored in “focusing attention”.

Conclusions

The TFI and TQ measure distinct domains but can be used complementary or solely, depending on the research question. The TFI identifies a broad spectrum of problems, where the TQ focuses on the psychological impact of tinnitus. Somatic patients in our study reported impairments and disabilities in all covered domains, especially in “onset of sleep” and “sound detection”.

Implications for Rehabilitation

• The Tinnitus Functional Index (TFI) and the Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ) cover different domains of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health.

• The TFI identifies problems in “body functions” and “activity and participation”.

• The TQ focuses on the psychological impact of tinnitus.

Keywords:

• ICF classification
• disability
• tinnitus
• health status
• participation

Acknowledgements

Ethical approval: Ethical approval was obtained from the ethics committee of the Antwerp University Hospital (reference number: B300201730825, date: 9 January 2017).

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

The first and second author are supported by a research grant from the “Fonds voor wetenschappelijk onderzoek Vlaanderen” (FWO) (T001916N).