Cross-cultural Adaptation and Validation of Hindi Version of Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire for Chronic Low Back Pain in Indian Population

Abstract

Study design: A cross-cultural adaptation, validation, and psychometric analysis.

Objective: The main aim was to assess the validity and reliability of the Hindi version of the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (Hi-RMDQ) for chronic low back pain.

Summary of background data: Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire is a standardized, self-administered tool for disability assessment in patients with chronic low back pain. However, its Hindi version has not been validated.

Materials and methods: Cognitive debriefing was carried out with 10 patients to ensure the comprehensibility of the Hi-RMDQ. Following this, 120 patients were asked to complete the finalized questionnaire along with the modified Oswestry Disability Index Questionnaire, Quebec Back Pain Disability Score, and the Verbal Numeric Rating Scale. The patients were then asked to again fill out the finalized questionnaire after 72 hours. The internal consistency and retest reliability of the Hindi translated version of the questionnaire was tested. Its correlation with the other scores was also analyzed.

Results: The translated questionnaire showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach α=0.989) and excellent retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient=0.978). There was a positive and statistically significant association between the Hi-RMDQ, modified Oswestry Disability Index Questionnaire ( r =0.807; P <0.01), Quebec Back Pain Disability Score ( r =0.839; P <0.01), and Verbal Numeric Rating Scale ( r =0.713; P <0.01).

Conclusion: The Hi-RMDQ version is an easy-to-use, acceptable, reliable, and valid tool to measure disability in the Indian population with nonspecific back pain with or without leg pain.

Level of evidence: 3.