Assessing Reliability and Validity of Dyspnea Questionnaire in Japanese Intensive Care Units
Dyspnea, a common symptom of cardiopulmonary and neuromuscular diseases, is often described as a subjective experience of breathing discomfort. Despite its prevalence, Japanese intensive care units (ICUs) do not regularly screen for dyspnea due to the lack of a validated Japanese version of the Respiratory Distress Observation Scale (RDOS). Therefore, we aimed to translate the English version of this questionnaire into Japanese and assess its validity and reliability.
The translated Japanese version of the RDOS was evaluated using various methods to determine its epds reliability and validity. Our results showed that the translated questionnaire demonstrated high internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of . The test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was also found to be excellent, with an intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) of .
Furthermore, our study revealed that the Japanese version of the RDOS exhibited good construct validity, as evidenced by its ability to distinguish between patients with different levels of respiratory distress. Specifically, the questionnaire showed significant correlations with other measures of respiratory function, such as forced vital capacity (FVC) and partial pressure of arterial oxygen (PaO2).
In conclusion, our study demonstrates that the translated Japanese version of the RDOS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing dyspnea in ICU patients. The availability of this questionnaire will enable Japanese ICUs to routinely screen for dyspnea, potentially leading to improved patient outcomes and enhanced quality of care.
