Cross-cultural adaptation of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory - child/adolescent to Spanish version. Analysis of its application in children.

BACKGROUND

The Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) is a questionnaire to assess self-perception of disability produced by the effects of vestibular system disorders. It is a tool used by professionals who treat patients with balance disorders, although it is not widely used in children. The aim of this study is to carry out a cross-cultural and linguistic adaptation of the DHI children/adolescent in the Argentine population from a version already published in Portuguese and to evaluate it in a group of patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cross-cultural adaptation was carried out, maintaining semantic, conceptual, content, technical and criteria equivalence; and it was verified that the new Argentinian version of the DHI for children and adolescents maintains the reliability of the original questionnaire. According to Beaton's recommendations, the questionnaire was translated from Portuguese to Spanish (Argentine) by 2 different translators and a back-translation to the original language by 2 other translators. Since this questionnaire is directed at a paediatric population, some terms were adapted to be understood by children from 4 years old. A psychopedagogue and a psychologist joined the team to delve more deeply into the questions that focus on the emotional or psychological aspects of the symptom.

RESULTS

No difficulties were found in obtaining equivalent expressions from the original questionnaire to Spanish (Argentine). The internal consistency of this cross-culturally adapted questionnaire was like those already published in other languages. Most paediatric patients do not have disabilities in the areas studied. The patients with the highest total scores presented vestibular migraine as a diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONS

This questionnaire will be culturally and linguistically adapted for use in the Argentine population. The emphasis was placed on terms and expressions that could be understood by the paediatric population.