J Med Assoc Thai 2008; 91 (11):1691

Views: 1,505 | Downloads: 303 | Responses: 0

PDF XML Respond to this article Print Alert & updates Request permissions Email to a friend


The Validation of the Disease-Specific Questionnaire for Health-Related Quality of Life in Thai Patients with Hemifacial Spasm
Setthawatcharawanich S Mail, Aui-aree N , Limapichart K , Satirapunya P , Phabphal K

Objective: To investigate the reliability and validity of the Thai version of disease-specific health-related
quality of life instrument for patients with hemifacial spasm (HFS) as well as their response to botulinum toxin
treatment.

Material and Method: A Thai version of HFS-30 has been developed with the permission of the author. Thirty
patients with HFS were asked to complete this Thai HFS-30, the 6-point disability scale before treatment and
between four and six weeks after botulinum toxin injections. Peak improvement (0-100%) was subjectively
assessed by each patient between four and six weeks after injection. They were also asked to answer the
existing Thai SF-36 questionnaire before treatment to test its correlation with Thai HFS-30. Another group of
ten patients completed the questionnaire and then a second identical copy after a 2-week interval. The
reliability, validity, and responsiveness were subsequently analyzed.

Results: The Thai HFS-30 showed a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.78 and no significant difference of a testretest
reliability. The total content validity was 0.88 (range 0.5-1.0). There were good correlations between
both the Physical and Mental Health parts of the Thai HFS-30 and Thai SF-36 (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01,
respectively). The Thai HFS-30 also demonstrated a response to treatment similar to the 6-point disability
scale and the peak improvement.

Conclusion: The Thai version of HFS-30 is a valid, reliable, and sensitive to change instrument for disease
specific health-related quality of life assessment.

Keywords: Hemifacial spasm, Thai HFS-30, Quality of life, Validity

Download: PDF