Abstract
INTRODUCTION: During clinical evaluations, in order to interpret patients' complaints caused by Eustachian tube dysfunction and to monitor the success of the treatment, standardized and disease-related scales are necessary. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of Eustachian tube dysfunction questionnaire-7. METHODS: Forty patients diagnosed with Eustachian tube dysfunction and 40 healthy individuals were enrolled for the study. After language validation of the Eustachian tube dysfunction questionnaire-7 for Turkish, a scale was completed by the both Eustachian tube dysfunction and control groups. Two weeks after the first evaluation, 15 of the cases filled out the scale again without any treatment intervention. Known-groups method was used in validity analysis. Floor-ceiling effect, test-retest method, item-total score correlation and internal consistency analysis were used in reliability analyses. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.714 for the entire questionnaire. The test-retest reliability coefficient for the total scale was determined as 0.792, indicating correlation between the two questionnaires completed by the same patient over time. In the Eustachian tube dysfunction group, total and each item scores were found significantly higher than the control group (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The Turkish version of Eustachian tube dysfunction questionnaire-7 was found to be highly valid and reliable. This scale is recommended to use for screening of Eustachian tube dysfunction and evaluating treatment outcome.