The Translation and Validation of Patient-Centered Outcomes Questionnaire Into Arabic: A Chronic Periodontitis Patient-Based Study

Cureus. 2024 Jan 23;16(1):e52786. doi: 10.7759/cureus.52786. eCollection 2024 Jan.

Abstract

Background The patient-centered outcomes questionnaire (PCOQ) is a self-report questionnaire that aims to assess four fundamental domains (pain, fatigue, distress, and interference) on an 11-point numerical rating scale from 0 to 10 in chronic diseases. The implementation of this tool will help assess chronic diseases; hence, this study aimed to translate the PCOQ to a sample of periodontitis patients. Methodology This study went through the content validity index. Arabic PCOQ used Cronbach's alpha for reliability with 300 participants. From July to August 2023, patients with periodontitis visiting an outpatient dental center in Riyadh were invited to participate in the study. The language, content, and structure of the questionnaire were appropriate, and with forward and backward translation, external entity translation was implemented. Results Regarding the participants' gender, the number of males was higher at 61%. Regarding age distribution, 50.7% of the participants were between 30 and 50 years old. A clarity score of 95.2% and a representativeness score of 97.3% were reported in the content validity analysis. The Cronbach's alpha of the Arabic PCOQ questionnaire was 0.85, and the subscales ranged between 0.68 and 0.93. Conclusions The translated version of the Arabic PCOQ is a valid tool to be used in Arab countries. Nonetheless, this instrument can provide insights for healthcare professionals, policymakers, and managers to improve patient satisfaction and healthcare system delivery.

Keywords: patient-centered; periodontitis; reliability; translation; validation.