Validation and Reliability of Reflux Symptoms Score-12 in Bahasa Malaysia

Abstract

Introduction: Laryngopharyngeal reflux is a prevalent disease. The

combined multichannel intraluminal impedance and pH monitoring

device is the “gold standard” to diagnose LPR but only available in

certain centres. Primary care givers should be equipped with tools

applicable everywhere to diagnose and monitor LPR efficiently such as

the Reflux Symptoms Score 12 (RSS-12).This study was conducted to

develop a Malay version of RSS-12 and to evaluate validity, consistency

and reliability of this tool to be applied to the Malaysian population

Methods: The English RSS-12 was adapted into Bahasa Malaysia

Reflux Symptom Score 12 (M-RSS 12) translated to Bahasa Malaysia

by an authorized translator. Content validation was done by 3 expert

panels. Face validation performed using the questionnaire rated by 10

respondents from our clinic. A pilot study involving 30 patients was then

conducted to determine the feasibility of the study Results: The item-

level content validity index (I-CVI) for all items was 1.0, the scale-level

content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) was 1. The item-level face validity

index (I-FVI) for all items was 0.95 -1.00 and scale-level face validity

index based on the average method (S-FVI/Ave) was 0.99. Both indices

of content validity and face validity achieved satisfactory level. For

internal consistency, the Cronbach alpha for 3 domains in the MRSS-12

ranged between 0.891-0.928 which showed high reliability Conclusion:

M RSS-12 is practical, valid and reliable to be used among Malaysian

population.