Validity and Reliability of Turkish Version of Chronic Otitis Media Questionaire-12

Disease-specific quality of life scales have garnered prominence in recent years. Chronic Otitis Media Questionnaire-12 (COMQ-12) is a new scale developed for evaluating health-related quality of life in patients with chronic otitis media (COM). This study aimed to investigate the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of COMQ-12. The COMQ-12 was translated into Turkish. The Turkish version was administered to four groups consisting of 35 individuals to assess its validity. Group 1 consisted of healthy individuals, group 2 had patients with inactive COM, group 3 had patients with healed COM and group 4 had patients with active COM. The questionnaire was administered to healthy participants twice to estimate test-retest reliability. The scores of the control group were compared with the others to test the validity of the questionnaire. The test and retest Cronbach's alpha values of the Turkish version of COMQ-12 were 0.918 and 0.917, respectively, which indicates excellent internal consistency. The total and each item scores of the active COM group were significantly higher than the control group (p < 0.001). The single measures intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.824 (with a 95% confidence interval from 0.678 to 0.907). The Turkish version of COMQ-12 was determined to be highly valid and reliable. It is thought that the effect of COM on the quality of life can be monitored more objectively by using this questionnaire.