Validation of the Italian Version of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory, the Situational Vertigo Questionnaire, and the Activity-Specific Balance Confidence Scale for Peripheral and Central Vestibular Symptoms

Abstract

Neurophysiological measurements of the vestibular function for diagnosis and follow-up evaluations provide an objective assessment, which, unfortunately, does not necessarily correlate with the patients’ self-feeling. The literature provides many questionnaires to assess the outcome of rehabilitation programs for disequilibrium, but only for the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) is an Italian translation available, validated on a small group of patients suffering from a peripheral acute vertigo. We translated and validated the reliability and validity of the DHI, the Situational Vertigo Questionnaire (SVQ), and the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC) in 316 Italian patients complaining of dizziness due either to a peripheral or to a central vestibular deficit, or in whom vestibular signs were undetectable by means of instrumental testing or clinical evaluation. Cronbach’s coefficient alpha, the homogeneity index, and test–retest reproducibility, confirmed reliability of the Italian version of the three questionnaires. Validity was confirmed by correlation test between questionnaire scores. Correlations with clinical variables suggested that they can be used as a complementary tool for the assessment of vestibular symptoms. In conclusion, the Italian versions of DHI, SVQ, and ABC are reliable and valid questionnaires for assessing the impact of dizziness on the quality of life of Italian patients with peripheral or central vestibular deficit.

Slovenian Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of Health-Related Quality of Life Measures for Chronic Otitis Media (COMQ-12), Vertigo (DHI, NVI) and TINNITUS (THI)

“…The Slovenian DHI had excellent test-retest reliability based on the intraclass correlation coefficient. This is consistent with other studies (32,56). Since the NVI has only recently been developed, to the best of our knowledge no studies have yet been published regarding its test-retest reliability (35,57).…”

“…According to Cronbach's alpha, the Slovenian DHI, NVI and THI had perfect internal consistency, even higher compared to other studies (7,8,32). The Slovenian COMQ-12 had acceptable internal consistency.…”

Validation of the Polish version of the <i>Dizziness Handicap Inventory</i>

“…The literature data are equivocal. Colnaghi et al [11] found the relationships between age and the DHI total, and DHI subscales as well, whereas Tamber et al [5] did not find any such correlations in spite of [5]. However, in the present study yes/no categories were produced by adding "sometimes" and "yes" answers from a 3-pts scale, while Tamber et al used a 6-pts scale and added scores 0−1 and 2−6.…”

Surgical treatment of otosclerosis leading to changes in postural control and quality of life

“…It is particularly interesting that ABC scores showed significant improvement because such a self-report questionnaire is a reliable index of global risk of fall in everyday activities with regard to other clinical questionnaires such as DHI and DGI, respectively, focusing on perceived dizziness and gait analysis evaluation. 52 This study suffers from some limitations. First, the sample size needs to be increased in order to reach more reliable conclusions about the relation between stapes surgery and improvements in balance and daily life outcomes.…”