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Reliability and Validity of the Chinese Mandarin Version of the Swallowing Quality of Life Questionnaire

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Abstract

Swallowing disorders can adversely affect quality of life (QOL). To develop the Chinese version of the Swallowing Quality of Life Questionnaire (ChSWAL-QOL) and evaluate its reliability and validity, the ChSWAL-QOL was generated by forward translation of the original SWAL-QOL, backward translation, cultural adaptation, and revision using the Delphi method. The ChSWAL-QOL was administered to 376 patients with dysphagia treated at Peking Union Medical College Hospital between November 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018. Reliability was evaluated using Cronbach’s α and test–retest reliability. Content validity was assessed using the content validity index (CVI). Structural validity was evaluated by exploratory factor and confirmatory factor analyses. The 44-item, 11-dimension of ChSWAL-QOL was considered semantically relevant, clearly expressed and easy to understand in a preliminary study. The final analysis included 360 of 376 questionnaires (95.7%). Cronbach’s α was 0.906 for the whole scale and ranged from 0.815 to 1.000 for the individual dimensions, and the test–retest reliability was 0.847, indicating that the ChSWAL-QOL had excellent internal consistency. CVI was 0.964 overall and ranged from 0.870 to 1.000 for the individual dimensions. Exploratory factor analysis identified a dysphagia-related component (psychological burden, feeding duration, swallowing symptoms, eating desire, communication, feeding fear, mental health, and social function) and a generic component (fatigue and sleep) explaining 52.8% and 10.8% of the variance, respectively. The ChSWAL-QOL has excellent reliability and validity. This scale could be used as a tool to assess the QOL of patients with dysphagia in mainland China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Care, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, 100730, China

    Xiaoxing Lai, Hongwei Zhu, Hongdi Du, Lin Bo & Xiaopeng Huo

  2. Otolaryngological Department, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, 100730, China

    Jian Wang

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  1. Xiaoxing Lai
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  2. Hongwei Zhu
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  3. Hongdi Du
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  4. Jian Wang
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  6. Xiaopeng Huo
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Correspondence to Xiaoxing Lai or Xiaopeng Huo.

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Lai, X., Zhu, H., Du, H. et al. Reliability and Validity of the Chinese Mandarin Version of the Swallowing Quality of Life Questionnaire. Dysphagia 36, 670–679 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-020-10181-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-020-10181-4

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