Validation of Czech versions of questionnaires assessing fatigue and physical acti- vity in patients with rheumatic diseases: Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS), Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue Scale (MAF), Human Activity Profile (HAP)
Abstract
Patient-Reported Outcomes are essential tools used in the clinical evaluation of the patient's subjective difficulties, such as fatigue or physical disability. Physical disability is a significant cause of reduced quality of life in patients with rheumatic diseases.
Fatigue is present in more than half of this population. The aim of this work was to perform the Czech translation and linguistic validation of questionnaires evaluating fatigue (Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue Scale, MAF; Fatigue Impact Scale, FIS) and physical activity (Human Activity Profile, HAP).
The original versions of the questionnaires were translated by three independent bilingual rheumatologists and consensually discussed and synthesized by the authors of this paper. In the next step, six bilingual non-physicians commented on the linguistic and content aspects of the questionnaires, and their comments were taken into account by an expert panel.
Subsequently, two independent blinded translators carried out a back-translation. Consensually, pre-final Czech versions of the questionnaires were created, which were afterward completed by 50 patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) and 55 patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).
A feedback questionnaire was used to assess the comprehensibility and conciseness of each question. The expert panel took into consideration the patient's comments when creating the definitive Czech versions of the questionnaires.
This work has resulted in the Czech versions of the FIS, MAF, and HAP questionnaires. All questionnaires proved to be understandable.
Patients with IIM and SSc achieved scores that were numerically similar to the results of previously published studies. These questionnaires may be appropriate tools to be used in clinical research and routine clinical practice.