Arabic translation, adaptation, and validation of the kidney disease quality of life short-form 36

Abstract

The Kidney Disease Quality of Life Short Form 36 (KDQOL-36) is a self-reported measure of health for patients with chronic kidney disease. Our goal was to develop an Arabic version of KDQOL-36 that is linguistically and conceptually equivalent to the original English version. We translated KDQOL-36 into formal Arabic language using forward and backward translation. To assess conceptual equivalence, we administered the Arabic and English versions simultaneously to a group of 10 bilingual patients. To assess test–re-test reliability, we administered the instrument twice to a group of 10 hemodialysis (HD) patients. To assess internal reliability, convergent validity, and discriminate validity, we administered the instrument to 62 HD patients and 82 kidney transplant patients asking them to simultaneously fill the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between the Arabic and English versions indicated excellent conceptual equivalence. The ICC between test and re-test scores revealed good reliability in the burden of kidney disease subscale and excellent reliability in the remaining four subscales. The translated version of KDQOL-36 had a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.81, indicating good internal reliability. We found significant negative correlations between the five subscales of the instrument and DASS-21, indicating good convergent validity. Kidney transplant recipients had significantly better scores than HD patients in the five subscales of the instrument, indicating excellent discriminate validity. The current Arabic version of KDQOL-36 has excellent conceptual equivalence with the original English version. It is a reliable and valid instrument for Arab kidney disease patients.