Translation and validation of an Arabic version of the UK oral health related quality of life measure (OHQoL-UK) in Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to translate and evaluate the performance of an oral health related quality of life measure--an Arabic version of OHQoL-UK in three middle eastern countries: Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN: Following forward and backwards translation of OHQoL-UK into Arabic and pilot testing the Arabic version among focus groups, a questionnaire containing the instrument was administered to 1,000 adults from the three Arab countries. In addition, the study participants were interviewed about their oral health status, experience of oral health problems in the past year, self-rating of oral health and also some socio-demographic information was collected. RESULTS: Among the three study populations, variations in OHQoL-UK scores were apparent in relation to socio-demographic factors (p<0.01), self-reported number of teeth possessed (p<0.001) and experience of oral health problems in the past year (p<0.01) which supports the construct validity of the instrument. Furthermore, variations in OHQoL-UK scores were apparent in relation to self-rating of oral health status (p<0.01) which supports the criterion validity of the measure. The internal reliability of the instrument was high in the three groups with Cronbach alpha values of above 0.90, indicating good internal consistency. CONCLUSION: The Arabic version of OHQoL-UK, an index of oral health related quality of life demonstrated satisfactory construct validity, criterion validity and internal reliability in Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. This provides further evidence of the instrument's psychometric properties and its cross cultural use.