Psychometric Properties of Arabic Version of Facial Disability Index in Facial Burn Patients to ensure Better Care Delivery

Abstract

Background: Facial burns can cause orofacial mobility dysfunction, which in turn can affect fundamental functions like eating, drinking, as well as speaking to varying degrees. Impairments in facial mimetics and social expressive abilities are also possible consequences. A validated index to measure patient-related outcome and quality of life in facial burn is not available in Arabic language, So, this study was done to assess the reliability and validity of the Arabic Egyptian version of the Facial Disability Index in measuring the quality of recovery following a facial burn injury in order to provide better care.

Methods: one appropriate questionnaire, the Facial Disability Index (FDI) was adeptly translated to Arabic version according to international guidelines. Content validity of Arabic version of FDI was measured, the internal consistency was assessed, and also test re-test reliability. Reliability was assessed in 121 patients with 2nd to 3rd facial burn injury of either sex, their ages were more than 20 years and they had no other burn injuries in other body parts. They were asked to fill the scale, with average 3 days interval, They were once again requested to refill it.  It was thought that their condition had improved. Content Validity was assessed in 32 experts whose specialty in facial burn injury, they were asked to complete Index of Content Validity (ICV) according to their opinion of each question. Experts assigned a score of 1 (agree), 0 (undetermined), or -1 (disagree) to each question.

Results: The content validity was very good after measuring experts’ opinions, the mean ICV of the Arabic FDI (ICV= 0.82), the internal consistency of the Arabic FDI was good (Cronbach alpha=0.72) and test- retest reliability was good in physical function part of FDI (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.730) and for social part of the index it was acceptable (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.680).

Conclusion: The translated Arabic facial Disability Index is a viable and reliable tool for assessing the quality of life as well as patient-related outcomes following a face burn injury.