Quebec French Translation, Cultural Adaptation, and Validation of the Singing Voice Handicap Index-10 Questionnaire for Singers with Dysphonia.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Dysphonia is a common voice disorder that can significantly impact a person's life; it requires a collaborative evaluation by both speech-language pathologists and otolaryngologists that takes the patient's perspective into account. The aim of this study was to translate and culturally adapt the Singing Voice Handicap Index questionnaire (SVHI-10), a reliable patient-reported outcome evaluation tool for dysphonia, for the Quebec French population. The result is the Singing Voice Handicap Index-10-QC (SVHI-10-QC). STUDY DESIGN: This study was a prospective translation and validation process. METHODS: The translation process complied with international recommendations and followed a standard forward-backward translation procedure and cognitive debriefing with 10 singers. The Quebec French version was administered to two study samples 30 vocal professionals with no dysphonia and 53 vocal professionals with dysphonia as one of their primary complaints. The SVHI-10-QC was assessed for construct validity, internal consistency, discriminatory capacity, and test-retest reliability. RESULTS: The SVHI-10-QC is valid, reliable, and ready for use with singer-patients suffering from dysphonia. CONCLUSIONS: The SVHI-10-QC is a reliable and valid tool for assessing the impact of dysphonia on French Quebec singers' quality of life.