Background: The Italian Spine Youth Quality of Life (ISYQOL) questionnaire is a tool used to evaluate health-related quality of life in adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis. The study aimed to undertake the process of cultural adaptation of the ISYQOL questionnaire into Simplified Chinese.
Methods: The translation from Italian into Simplified Chinese was performed. It involved 138 adolescents whose Cobb angle ranged between 20-40 degrees, 50 wearing the brace and 88 not wearing the brace. Statistical analysis calculated the reliability, floor and ceiling effects of the ISYQOL. After that, construct validity was measured by analyzing the ISYQOL relationship Scoliosis Research Society-22 patient Questionnaire (SRS-22).
Results: There were no floor or ceiling effects in ISYQOL questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient evaluated for Internal consistency was 0.75 without the brace and 0.88 with the brace. Intraclass correlation coefficients assessed with the use of the test-retest method was 0.72 without the brace and 0.80 with the brace. A strong relationship exists between the ISYQOL measure and SRS-22 scores (rho=0.63; p< 0.01), reflecting the high validity of the questionnaires. Both ISYQOL and SRS-22 scores showed no statistical difference between groups with and without the brace (p>0.05).
Conclusions: Trans-cultural validation in Chinses language showed the reliability and validity of the ISYQOL