The Korean Version of Skindex-29

Ahn, Bong Kyun; Lee, Sang Ju; Namkoong, Ki; Chung, Yae Lee; Lee, Seung Hun

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Most available dermatologic quality-of-life measures were written in English. So these must be translated for use in Korea. Our purpose was to translate and adapt culturally into Korean a skin-related quality-of-life measure Skindex-29, and to begin preliminary assessments of its reliability and validity. METHODS: Cross-cultural adaptation questionnaire studies were performed. Two hundred and sixty adult outpatients and healthy people responded to the Korean version of Skindex-29. Evaluations of the semantic equivalence of back-translated items, reliability, construct validity, and content validity of the Korean version were the main outcome measures. Comparison between the Korean version and other versions of Skindex-29 (Spanish and American) responses was also performed. RESULTS: Five problematic items required a second translation and back-translation to achieve satisfactory agreement with the original instrument. The final Korean version of Skindex-29 was internally reliable. The instrument demonstrated both construct and content validity. As hypothesized, scores for dermatologic patients were higher than those of healthy persons and scores for patients with inflammatory diseases were higher than those of persons with isolated skin lesions. Skindex scale scores of the Korean version and other versions of Skindex-29 were similar. CONCLUSIONS: We have developed a semantically equivalent translation of Skindex-29 in Korean. Our preliminary evaluation of its measurement properties suggests that it is a reliable and valid measure of the effects of skin disease on the quality of life in Korean patients.