Developing and validating the Arabic version of the Diabetes Quality of Life questionnaire

The Diabetes Quality of Life (DQoL) questionnaire has been used frequently among people with diabetes.

To develop and validate a revised Arabic version of the DQoL questionnaire for patients in Jordan with type 2 diabetes.

We recruited patients with type 2 diabetes from 3 public health clinics in Jordan. The original DQoL questionnaire was translated to Arabic and then back-translated by a different translator, and the 2 versions were compared. Prior to circulating the final version of the questionnaire, a cognitive validity test was applied to ensure that all the questions were clear. The final Arabic version of the DQoL questionnaire, along with a questionnaire that included demographic and other health-related questions, were circulated to the participants. The questionnaire data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis after excluding duplicated questions and questions that included > 10% missing data. Cronbach's α was also conducted to confirm internal consistency.

Analysis validated an Arabic version of DQoL questionnaire that included 29 items divided into 3 factors: worries, impact and satisfaction. Different variables were associated with DQoL scores including insulin administration, low income status, marital status, and presence of diabetic complications.

We validated an Arabic tool that can be used to evaluate QoL among Arabic-speaking patients with type 2 diabetes.