Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the eating assessment tool into Persian

ABSTRACT

Objective

The Eating Assessment Tool (EAT-10) is a self-administered questionnaire which measures patients’ perception of their swallowing problems. It can also be used for determining the risk of developing dysphagia and symptoms associated with clinical response to treatment. The aim of the present study was the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the EAT-10 in Persian.

Methods

The English EAT-10 was translated to Persian using the guidelines of International Quality of Life Assessment. Participants included 137 patients with dysphagia and 66 healthy controls who completed the P-EAT-10. Fifty participants with dysphagia completed the P-EAT-10 a second time a week after the initial completion to evaluate test-retest reliability.

Results

The P-EAT-10 demonstrated a strong internal consistency. The obtained Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.94. Also, the total scores of the P-EAT-10 showed a high test-retest reliability (r = 0.98, p < 0.001). There was a significant difference between the dysphagia and the control group in the P-EAT-10 values (p< 0.001)

Conclusion

The P-EAT-10 can be considered a valid and reliable questionnaire for the evaluation of patients with dysphagia. The P-EAT-10 can be applied in clinical practice across Iran in the assessment and treatment of dysphagia patients. P-EAT-10 is recommended to be used in the initial diagnosis of swallowing patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Eating assessment tool
• dysphagia
• swallowing disorders
• reliability
• validity
• questionnaire
• Eating disorders
• self-assessment

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the patients who participated in the research and we thank the Ahvaz University of Medical Science for tools and equipments. Contributors: first author contributed with study conception, the analysis, and interpretation of data and writing of the manuscript; the second author contributed with the collection, analysis of data, writing of the manuscript; the third author contributed with study conception, the collection, and manuscript revision; the fourth author contributed with the collection and manuscript revision; the fifth author contributed with statistical analysis and interpretation of statistical results. All participants have given their written informed consent. This study has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee at Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz with number IR.AJUMS.REC.1398.171.

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by grants (number PHT-9810) provided from Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran.