Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Adelante, Centre for expertise in Rehabilitation & Audiology, Hoensbroek, The Netherlands.
Ear Hear. 2019 Nov/Dec;40(6):1467-1477. doi: 10.1097/AUD.0000000000000728.
The purpose of this study was to assess the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Fear of Tinnitus Questionnaire (FTQ); a brief self-report measure of people's fears about potential cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social consequences of living with tinnitus.
Five hundred eighty-eight Dutch-speaking adults with tinnitus completed an online battery of questionnaires measuring tinnitus-related distress, fear, catastrophizing, and quality of life. The sample was randomly split into two to perform exploratory and Bayesian confirmatory factor analyses. A subsample of participants (n = 144) completed the battery of questionnaires a second time after a 2-week interval to calculate test-retest reliability and conduct a Bland-Altman analysis. Convergent and concurrent validity of the FTQ was assessed with the complete data set and measures of tinnitus-related distress as the outcome.
Exploratory factor analyses indicated that single- and three-factor FTQ models were both valid solutions. Posterior predictive p values for the Bayesian confirmatory factor analyses ranged between 0.51 and 0.53 indicating that the respective models were an excellent fit for the data. The FTQ showed excellent test-retest reliability (average value intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.92; 95% confidence interval, 0.89-0.95) and in the Bland-Altman analysis, satisfactory agreement between participants' scores after a 2-week interval. Furthermore, the FTQ demonstrated good internal reliability (α = 0.83, 95% confidence interval, 0.81-0.85) and added statistically significant amounts of variance to models predicting tinnitus-related distress and interference in daily life.
The FTQ has good psychometric properties and can be used to assess people's fear of tinnitus in research or clinical settings. Further work to establish the reliability and validity should be conducted and include an examination of a version of the FTQ that uses Likert-type response scales which might offer improved sensitivity.
本研究旨在评估耳鸣恐惧问卷（FTQ）的结构、信度和效度；该问卷是一种简短的自评工具，用于衡量人们对耳鸣潜在认知、情感、行为和社交后果的恐惧。
588 名讲荷兰语的耳鸣成年人在线完成了一系列问卷，测量耳鸣相关的困扰、恐惧、灾难化和生活质量。该样本被随机分为两组，分别进行探索性和贝叶斯验证性因子分析。一部分参与者（n=144）在两周后再次完成了这套问卷，以计算重测信度并进行 Bland-Altman 分析。使用完整数据集和耳鸣相关困扰的测量值作为结果，评估 FTQ 的聚合和同时效性。
探索性因子分析表明，单因素和三因素 FTQ 模型都是有效的解决方案。贝叶斯验证性因子分析的后验预测 p 值在 0.51 到 0.53 之间，表明各自的模型非常适合数据。FTQ 显示出极好的重测信度（平均 ICC 值为 0.92；95%置信区间，0.89-0.95），在 Bland-Altman 分析中，参与者在两周后得分的一致性良好。此外，FTQ 具有良好的内部信度（α=0.83，95%置信区间，0.81-0.85），并为预测耳鸣相关困扰和日常生活干扰的模型增加了显著的统计方差。
FTQ 具有良好的心理测量学特性，可用于研究或临床环境中评估人们对耳鸣的恐惧。应进一步开展工作以建立其可靠性和有效性，包括检查使用李克特型反应量表的 FTQ 版本，这可能会提高敏感性。
