Adaptation and Validation of the Sydney Swallow Questionnaire into Kannada (KSSQ)

Self-rating questionnaires are necessary to quantify the impairment and the impact of impairment on the quality of life, provided that these questionnaires are delivered in the patient's native language. There are no questionnaires to assess the symptom severity of oropharyngeal dysphagia in Kannada-speaking individuals. The Sydney Swallow Questionnaire (SSQ) is one such explicit tool to assess the symptoms of dysphagia, especially among patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia. The SSQ is a simple and easy-to-understand questionnaire. Therefore, the present study aimed to adapt and validate the SSQ in Kannada. English version of the SSQ was translated to Kannada and was administered to two groups of native Kannada-speaking participants - Group 1 included 53 participants (66.49 + 12.65 years) diagnosed with oropharyngeal dysphagia, and Group 2 included 53 age and gender-matched native Kannada speakers with normal swallowing ability with no history and symptoms of swallowing disorders. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess the test-retest reliability. Internal consistency was assessed using the split-half correlation. The concurrent validity of the Kannada version of SSQ (KSSQ) was measured by determining the correlation between the total scores of KSSQ and the Kannada version of Dysphagia Handicap Index (DHI). The discriminant validity was assessed by comparing the KSSQ scores between the participants of both groups. The results indicated that the KSSQ had excellent test-retest reliability, strong internal consistency, and good concurrent and discriminant validity. Therefore, it was inferred that the KSSQ is a valid and reliable tool for assessing the symptoms of dysphagia, especially among Kannada-speaking patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia.