Objective: We aimed to validate the Malay version of Diabetes Quality of Life (DQOL) questionnaire for Malaysian adult population with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study to validate Malay version of DQOL among the adult diabetic patients. DQOL questionnaire has 46 items consist of three domains, namely Satisfaction Domain, Impact Domain and Worry Domain. Both forward and backward translations from the English version of DQOL into Malay version were performed. After the face validity of the Malay version was established, it was then pilot-tested. Finally, the validity and reliability of the final Malay version of DQOL questionnaire were evaluated.
Results: There were 290 patients participated in this study with a mean (SD) age of 53.1 (10.0) years. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the overall items and the main domains were between 0.846 and 0.941. The Pearson's correlation coefficients for the three domains were between 0.228 and 0.451. HbA1C was found to be positively correlated with Impact Domain (P = 0.006). The Worry Domain was associated with diabetic retinopathy (P = 0.014) and nephropathy (P = 0.033).
Conclusion: The Malay version of diabetes quality of life (DQOL) questionnaire was found to be a valid and reliable survey instrument to be used for Malaysian adult patients with diabetes mellitus.
Keywords: diabetes; quality of life; questionnaire; validation.