Paspala Anna, Dimitriou Evangelos, Delides Alexander, Stamelos Mathew, Peppa Melpomeni, Nastos Constantinos
3rd Department of Surgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Attikon University Hospital, Athens, Greece; ENT Department, Attikon University Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Department of Statistical Science, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
J Voice. 2024 Jul 17. doi: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2024.06.006.
The Thyroidectomy-Related Voice Questionnaire (TVSQ) is a useful tool in the detection of voice changes and dysfunctions and the diagnosis of other symptoms related to transient or permanent laryngeal nerve damage in patients after thyroidectomy. The aim of our study is the translation and validation of (TVSQ) in the Greek language and in Greek population for the first time.
The TVSQ was translated from English to Greek and vice versa by two independent researchers, while before the application of the TVSQ in clinical practice, a control group of 20 people was used. The following methods were used for the weighting and analysis of the TVSQ: Polychoric correlation, Cronbach's alpha, confirmatory factor analysis, and item response theory (IRT).
Polychoric correlations revealed that questions 1-10 have a strong positive correlation with each other, while the correlation of the rest of the TVSQ items is positive. Subsequently, for the first subgroup of questions ("voice change") Cronbach's alpha was equal to 0.950, while for the second ("throat and neck discomfort") Cronbach's alpha was equal to 0.846. Thus, we conclude that the internal consistency reliability is high for both subgroups of TVSQ questions. With the IRT method we showed that for the first subgroup of questions ("voice change"), the item with the least predictive value is question 5, while for the second subgroup of questions ("throat and neck discomfort"), the item with the least educational value was question 15.
Our team translated and validated the TVSQ with the above statistical methods in the Greek language, so that it can be used as a valuable tool in clinical practice, and more specifically in patients undergoing thyroidectomy. TVSQ can play a significant role on the diagnosis of either postoperative voice disorders and other symptoms related to thyroidectomy.
甲状腺切除相关嗓音问卷（TVSQ）是检测嗓音变化和功能障碍以及诊断甲状腺切除术后患者短暂性或永久性喉返神经损伤相关其他症状的有用工具。我们研究的目的是首次将TVSQ翻译成希腊语并在希腊人群中进行验证。
由两名独立研究人员将TVSQ从英语翻译成希腊语，反之亦然，在TVSQ应用于临床实践之前，使用了一个20人的对照组。采用以下方法对TVSQ进行加权和分析：多列相关、克朗巴哈系数、验证性因素分析和项目反应理论（IRT）。
多列相关显示问题1 - 10之间具有很强的正相关性，而TVSQ其余项目的相关性为正。随后，对于第一组问题（“嗓音变化”），克朗巴哈系数等于0.950，而对于第二组问题（“咽喉和颈部不适”），克朗巴哈系数等于0.846。因此，我们得出结论，TVSQ问题的两个亚组的内部一致性信度都很高。通过IRT方法我们表明，对于第一组问题（“嗓音变化”），预测价值最小的项目是问题5，而对于第二组问题（“咽喉和颈部不适”），教育价值最小的项目是问题15。
我们的团队用上述统计方法将TVSQ翻译成希腊语并进行了验证，以便它能在临床实践中作为一种有价值的工具使用，更具体地说，用于接受甲状腺切除术的患者。TVSQ在术后嗓音障碍及其他与甲状腺切除术相关症状的诊断中可发挥重要作用。
