Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013;12(3):102-5.

Validation of the Persian version of the 40-item amyotrophic lateral sclerosis assessment questionnaire

Hosein Shamshiri  1 , Mohammad Reza Eshraghian, Nastaran Ameli, Shahriar Nafissi
Affiliations

Validation of the Persian version of the 40-item amyotrophic lateral sclerosis assessment questionnaire

Hosein Shamshiri et al. Iran J Neurol. 2013.

Abstract

Background: As a disease of motor nervous system (motor neuron disease), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has a great impact on several aspects of quality of life (QoL). Generic questionnaires of QoL do not address all the especial features of ALS and therefore translation and validation of disease specific questionnaires such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Assessment Questionnaire 40-item (ALSAQ-40) is necessary for assessment of patients with different languages. The aim of this study was to review the validation of the Persian version of the ALSAQ-40.

Methods: Meticulously translated ALSAQ-40 was completed by 21 ALS patients. Internal reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient and item-total correlation was also used to evaluate the correlation of each question with total score. Validity was evaluated through comparison with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale-revised (ALSFRS-r) and the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36).

Results: Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.91-0.96 for different scales of the ALSAQ-40. All the 40 questions of the questionnaire had correlation greater than 0.5. Correlation coefficient of all the related scales of the Persian version of ALSAQ-40, SF-36 and ALSFRS-r was greater than 0.59 with P value < 0.001.

Conclusion: Measures of the Cronbach's alpha coefficient and item-total correlation demonstrated reliability and consistency of the questionnaire, and correlation coefficients confirmed the validity of different items in the questionnaire. This study showed that the Persian version of the ALSAQ-40 is a reliable and valid questionnaire for the evaluation of QoL in ALS patients with Persian language.

Keywords: 40-Item Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Assessment Questionnaire; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale-revised; Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient; Item-Total Correlation; SF-36 Questionnaire.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Kiernan MC, Vucic S, Cheah BC, Turner MR, Eisen A, Hardiman O, et al. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Lancet. 2011;377(9769):942–55. - PubMed
    1. Miglioretti M, Mazzini L, Oggioni GD, Testa L, Monaco F. Illness perceptions, mood and health-related quality of life in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. J Psychosom Res. 2008;65(6):603–9. - PubMed
    1. Kubler A, Winter S, Ludolph AC, Hautzinger M, Birbaumer N. Severity of depressive symptoms and quality of life in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2005;19(3):182–93. - PubMed
    1. Sathasivam S. Managing patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Eur J Intern Med. 2009;20(4):355–8. - PubMed
    1. Pavan K, Marangoni BE, Zinezzi MO, Schmidt KB, Oliveira BC, Buainain RP, et al. Validation of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Assessment Questionnaire (ALSAQ-40) scale in the Portuguese language. Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2010;68(1):48–51. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources