Abstract

Objective

To translate and culturally adapt the UK English Audit of Diabetes-Dependent Quality of Life (ADDQOL) into Chinese for Singapore.

Methods

Translation was integrated into investigation of conceptual, item, semantic, and operation equivalence. Conceptual equivalence, item equivalence, and operation equivalence were assessed by literature review, expert judgment, and cognitive debriefing. Semantic equivalence was studied by using an optimized procedure including forward and backward translation, clinician review, and cognitive debriefings. Cognitive debriefings were done with five Chinese-speaking diabetic patients at polyclinics. Reliability, responsiveness, and construct validity tests were used to evaluate measurement equivalence. English- and Chinese-speaking diabetic patients by convenient sampling at a Diabetes Society of Singapore's public event were recruited for the measurement equivalence study. Mann-Whitney U tests, chi-square tests, and descriptive analyses were used for group comparisons and Spearman's correlation coefficients for construct validity tests.

Results

Forty-two English-speaking and 26 Chinese-speaking diabetic patients (45.5% females) with a mean age of 54.2 ± 10.07 years were recruited. Chinese-speaking respondents were more likely than the English-speaking group to be unemployed, less educated, and with poorer family functioning (P P = 0.182).

Conclusions

The ADDQOL has been translated and culturally adapted successfully into a Chinese version for Singapore. Our study provides justification for further research with large sample sizes among the Chinese-speaking population in Singapore.