Purpose: To date, the "Rotator Cuff Quality of Life" (RC-QOL) measure has not been translated into Turkish. The aim of this study was to perform a cross-cultural adaptation of the questionnaire and determine the reliability and reproducibility of the "Turkish version of the RC-QOL" (Tur-RC-QOL) questionnaire on Turkish-speaking patients.
Methods: The translation followed an established forward-and-backward translation procedure. Thirty Turkish-speaking, rotator cuff-impaired patients were enrolled in the study. The validity of the Tur-RC-QOL was assessed and compared with the "Shoulder Pain and Disability Index" (SPADI) and the "Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index" (WORC) using Pearson's correlation coefficients. A test-retest interval of 2 days was used to assess the reliability. Internal consistency was tested by Cronbach's alpha, relative reliability with "intraclass correlation coefficient" (ICC), and absolute reliability using the formula for the "standard error of measurement" (SEM).
Results: The Cronbach's alpha scores were high for the total scores and subheadings of the Tur-RC-QOL, in the range of 0.83-0.98. Excellent test-retest reliability scores were found for the total score and for all parts of the Tur-RC-QOL, with the exception of "Part E". The ICC score for Part E was relatively lower than other parts (ICC = 0.71), and the SEM score was relatively higher (17.92 %). The Pearson correlation coefficients for the Tur-RC-QOL were high for SPADI (r = 0.90, p < 0.001) and WORC (r = 0.85, p < 0.001).
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the Tur-RC-QOL is a reliable and valid instrument to assess the quality of life of rotator cuff-impaired patients.
Level of evidence: III.