Translation and Linguistic Validation of Korean Version of the King's Health Questionnaire Instrument

Oh, Seung June; Park, Hyung Geun; Paick, Sung Hyun; Park, Won Hee; Choo, Myung Soo

Abstract

PURPOSE: With the aim of objectively assessing the symptoms' severity and treatment outcomes of urinary incontinence in the Korean population, the King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ) instrument was translated into Korean, with subsequent linguistic validation.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Between May 2002 and December 2002, two bilinguists independently translated the original English version of the KHQ into written Korean. A panel consisting of the aforementioned translators and three authors (SJO, HGP and SHP) reviewed the translations to form a single reconciled forward translation of the Korean version. Another bilingual translator, who had never seen the original KHQ, translated the draft Korean version of the KHQ back into English and subsequently assessed for equivalence to the original. Discrepancies between the original English form and the first draft Korean translation were reviewed by the panel. Cognitive debriefing interviews with five incontinent patients were performed to test the interpretation of the translation. A summary of the changes from the patient interviews were then reflected in the final Korean version. The document was finally proofread to check the spelling, grammar, layout and formatting.
RESULTS
The multi-step process of forward translation, reconciliation, back-translation, cognitive debriefing and proofreading of the Korean version of the KHQ was completed.
Conclusions
Translation and linguistic validation of the Korean version of the KHQ instrument were completed. Further tests for its psychometric performance will be required.