Validity and Reliability of Hausa Version of The World Health Organization Quality of Life-Short Form Among Spinal Cord Injury Survivors

Abstract

The World Health Organization’s Quality of Life Bref (WHOQoL-Bref) is a well-validated, cross-cultural tool for measuring Quality of Life (QoL) across different populations. This study translated the WHOQoL-Bref into the Hausa language, through a forward-back translation phase, which involved two rounds of back translation. In addition, the translated Hausa version was investigated for validity and reliability among patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Individuals with spinal cord injury (ISCI) and their sex- and age-matched apparently healthy individuals (AHI), participated in this correlational study. The ISCI and AHI were recruited using purposive sampling technique from physiotherapy clinics of tertiary health institution in Northern Nigeria. The ISCI completed both English and Hausa versions and a re-completion of the Hausa version of WHOQoL-Bref after two weeks, while the AHI completed the Hausa version only. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used at p<0.05. The ISCI (38 males; 11 females) and AHI (38 males; 11 females) were aged 32.86±7.15years and 33.68±7.15years respectively. The mean duration of SCI is 20.43±9.03 months. Domain scores on the Hausa version of the WHOQoL-Bref correlated significantly with English version (r=0.514-0.638, p=<0.0001). There were differences between scores obtained by participants with SCI and those without SCI on the Hausa version. Domain scores on the Hausa version of WHOQoL-Bref obtained on the first and second administrations correlated significantly (r=0.413-0.766, p=<0.0001). The Hausa version of WHOQoL-Bref is a valid, reliable and acceptable instrument for assessing QoL of spinal cord injury survivors. It is recommended for use in Hausa-speaking populations.

Keywords: Quality of life; World health organisation quality of life scale;  Translation; Validity; Reliability; Spinal cord injury survivors