Validity and reliability of the Arabic version of the Identification of Functional Ankle Instability questionnaire (IdFAI-Ar) in college-aged population.

OBJECTIVES

The aims of this work are to culturally adapt the Identification of Functional Ankle Instability questionnaire (IdFAI) into Arabic language and to examine its psychometrics.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

This research took place at Cairo University in Egypt.

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty eight college-aged students participated in the translation and cultural adaptation, while another 86 college-aged students participated in the measurements (validity and reliability).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The original IdFAI was translated into Arabic language using standard guidelines. The Arabic version of the IdFAI (IdFAI-Ar) and the Arabic version of the Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS-Ar) were applied to 86 college-aged students with and without functional ankle instability. The IdFAI-Ar was tested on two occasions with an interval of one week to investigate its psychometrics.

RESULTS

The IdFAI-Ar had a moderate correlation with LEFS-Ar and a strong correlation with ankle status classification. The reliability and internal consistency were excellent. The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were 0.91, 0.80, and 0.99 respectively.

CONCLUSION

The IdFAI-Ar has high validity and reliability. It can be used in clinical and research practices as a region-specific tool to discriminate between participants with and without functional ankle instability in the Arabic-speaking countries.