Research Articles
Construct validity and reliability of the Sinhala version of the Chalder fatigue questionnaire in a cohort following dengue infection in Sri Lanka
Authors:
N.D. Perera ,
Ministry of Health, LK
About N.D.
MBBS, MSc in Community Medicine, trainee in MD Community Medicine
S.P. Prathapan,
University of Sri Jayawardenepura, LK
About S.P.
Professor in Community Medicine
Faculty of Medical Sciences,
D.A. Wass,
University of Sri Jayawardenepura, LK
About D.A.
Consultant Psychiatrist, Senior lecturer in Psychiatry
Faculty of Medical Sciences
A. Wijewickrama
National Institute of Infectious Diseases (IDH), LK
About A.
Consultant Physician
Abstract
The objective of the study was to culturally adapt, translate and assess the validity and reliability of the 11-item Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire (CFQ) among adults (18-60 years), confirmed with dengue infection, admitted to a tertiary hospital in Colombo District, Sri Lanka. Modified Delphi Technique was used in cultural adaptation and assessing, face, content and consensual validity. A descriptive cross-sectional validation study was conducted among 110 patients. CFQ was administered one month after having dengue fever in assessing post-infectious fatigue (PIF). CFQ-Sinhala version (CFQ-S) was assessed for construct validity and reliability. Construct validity of the CFQ-Sinhala version was described with hypothesized scale structure and with confirmatory factor analysis. The culturally adapted (CFQ-S) confirmed the original two-factor structure among adults after one month of having Dengue infection. CFQ-S demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency of ≥ 0.7. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.85 for the overall scale. The test-retest reliability was assessed by calculating the intra-class correlation coefficient between the two assessments and reported as 0.89 on the overall scale. The study confirmed satisfactory levels of validity and the reliability of the CFQ-S, as a valid tool to screen for PIF. The two-factor model described by the original author was confirmed as the best fitting model by triangulation of results.
How to Cite:
Perera, N.D., Prathapan, S.P., Wass, D.A. and Wijewickrama, A., 2021. Construct validity and reliability of the Sinhala version of the Chalder fatigue questionnaire in a cohort following dengue infection in Sri Lanka. Journal of the National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka, 49(3), pp.441–450. DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/jnsfsr.v49i3.9979
Published on
09 Dec 2021.
Peer Reviewed
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