Adaptation of Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) in Bengali Language

Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) has been used to assess working efficiency of an individual. The self-reporting MEQ is available in English language, and its applicability to Indian scenario is limited to educated/ English proficient individuals only. Since, majority in India still depend on the regional languages for communication, it is difficult to make live translation of the questionnaire while administration and results may also vary due to tester's language proficiency. The present study focused on adapting MEQ in Bengali language.

The English version of Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) was a self-assessment questionnaire consisting of 19 questions to measure whether a person's peak alertness was in the morning, evening or in between. The translation of the questionnaire was done using forward-backward-translation method by six experts in Bengali language, and was content validated by thirty native Bengali speakers. The speakers were asked to rate the questions on a 5-point rating scale with 1 being very familiar and 5 being not at all familiar. All the questions rated as 1 or 2 were considered for the Bengali version of MEQ, while those rated as 3 or above were reframed and revalidated.

The Bengali version of the MEQ has good reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.74). Item analysis revealed it as a good consistent scale for estimating the circadian type of the participants. Participants were classified into 5 Circadian types based on the cut-off scores. Majority of participants are intermediate type, followed by Morningness.

The application of MEQ will help in management of tinnitus.