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Adaptation of the osteoarthritis-specific quality of life scale (the OAQoL) for use in Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Turkey

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Abstract

The Osteoarthritis Quality of Life scale (OAQoL) is specific to individuals with osteoarthritis. The present study describes the adaptation of the OAQoL for use in the following five European languages: German, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish and Turkish. The study involved three stages in each language; translation, cognitive debriefing (face and content validity) and validation. The validation stage assessed internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha), reproducibility (test–retest reliability using Spearman’s rank correlations), convergent and divergent validity (correlations with the Health Assessment Questionnaire, The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Index of osteoarthritis and Nottingham Health Profile) and known group validity. The OAQoL was successfully translated into the target languages with minimal problems. Cognitive debriefing interviewees found the measures easy to complete and identified few problems with content. Internal consistency ranged from 0.94 to 0.97 and test–retest reliability (reproducibility) from 0.87 to 0.98. These values indicate that the new language versions produce very low levels of measurement error. Median OAQoL scores were higher for patients reporting a current flare of osteoarthritis in all countries. Scores were also related, as expected, to perceived severity of osteoarthritis. The OAQoL was successfully adapted for use in Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Turkey. The addition of these new language versions will prove valuable to multinational clinical trials and to clinical practice in the respective countries.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). We would particularly like to thank the translation panel members and the participants in the cognitive debriefing interviews and validation surveys.

Author contributions

All authors qualify for the definition given by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors for authorship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Galen Research Ltd, B1 Chorlton Mill, 3 Cambridge Street, Manchester, M1 5BY, UK

    Jeanette Wilburn, Stephen P. McKenna & Matthew Rouse

  2. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ankara, Ankara, Turkey

    Şehim Kutlay & Ayşe A. Küçükdeveci

  3. Hospital of Hospitaller Brothers of St John of God, Budapest, Hungary

    Tamas Bender & Pal Geher

  4. Rheumazentrum Ruhrgebiet, Herne, Germany

    Jürgen Braun & Uta Kiltz

  5. Servicio de Reumatología, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Concepcion Castillo-Gallego & Emilio Martin-Mola

  6. Rheumatology Unit, University Hospital of Padova, Padua, Italy

    Marta Favero & Roberta Ramonda

  7. Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil, Switzerland

    Alan Tennant

Authors
  1. Jeanette Wilburn
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  2. Stephen P. McKenna
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  3. Şehim Kutlay
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  4. Tamas Bender
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  6. Concepcion Castillo-Gallego
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  7. Marta Favero
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  8. Pal Geher
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  9. Uta Kiltz
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  10. Emilio Martin-Mola
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  11. Roberta Ramonda
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  12. Matthew Rouse
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  13. Alan Tennant
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  14. Ayşe A. Küçükdeveci
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeanette Wilburn.

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Funding

This study was funded by The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR).

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual patients included in the study.

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Wilburn, J., McKenna, S.P., Kutlay, Ş. et al. Adaptation of the osteoarthritis-specific quality of life scale (the OAQoL) for use in Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Turkey. Rheumatol Int 37, 727–734 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-017-3664-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-017-3664-y

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