A quality of life questionnaire for patients with scapula alata (SA-Q): development and validation

BACKGROUND: No quality of life (QoL) questionnaire exists for patients with scapula alata (SA). The objective of this study was to develop and validate a QoL questionnaire for SA patients. METHODS: A team consisting of experts (n = 7) and SA patients (n = 7) developed, through five continuous phases, a QoL questionnaire for SA patients (SA-Q). The developed questionnaire consists of 21 items, grouped in five domains: physical symptoms (five items), work (four items), sport and leisure activities (four items), life style (four items) and emotions (four items). Content and face validity for the SA-Q questionnaire were evaluated by a sample of 48 (90%) out of 53 SA patients recruited from a university hospital. The Content Validity Index (CVI) and modified kappa index (κ*) assessed the relevance of SA-Q questionnaire. RESULTS: The SA patients evaluated 20 (95%) out of 21 items as excellent for content validity (I-CVI > 0.78, κ* > 0.74), one (5%) item was considered as good (I-CVI < 0.78, 0.60 < κ* < 0.74). The average scale (S-CVI/ave) for the entire SA-Q questionnaire was 0.93 indicating an excellent content validity. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents the development and validation of content validity of the first QoL questionnaire for SA patients. The SA-Q questionnaire has potential clinical implications for detected changes concerning the different items during rehabilitation. CLINICAL TRIALS: Not relevant.