CROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION AND VALIDATION OF THE KOREAN VERSION OF THE FUNCTIONAL INDEX FOR HAND OSTEOARTHRITIS (FIHOA)

Abstract

Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common type of arthritis and it most frequently involves joints of the hands. Measuring functional ability of hand OA patients is important in terms of assessment of treatment response, patient management and improvement of quality of life. The functional index for hand osteoarthritis (FIHOA) is one of the most frequently utilised questionnaire to assess the physical function of hand OA patients. The FIHOA has been translated into 17 languages, however, no Korean version of FIHOA is yet available.

Objectives To translate the FIHOA into Korean, and establish the reliability and validity of the cross-culturally adapted Korean version of FIHOA (K-FIHOA) in patients with hand OA.

Methods The FIHOA was translated into Korean following cross-cultural adaptation guidelines. The K-FIHOA was pretested in 40 hand OA patients (defined by ACR classification criteria). The adapted K-FIHOA was then administered to 100 consecutive hand OA patients together with the modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (mHAQ) and visual analogue scale (VAS) for hand pain. The test-retest reliability of each item and total scores were assessed using Spearman’s correlation coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The internal consistency reliability was evaluated as the Cronbach’s alpha. The external construct validity was assessed using correlation between K-FIHOA and mHAQ and hand pain VAS.