Psychometric Properties of the Oral Mucositis Daily Questionnaire in Turkish Children with Cancer

Abstract

Purpose: The Oral Mucositis Daily Questionnaire (OMDQ) can be used in pediatric cancer patients. This study aimed to investigate the Turkish validity and reliability of the OMDQ in children aged 8 - 18 years diagnosed with cancer at two university hospital pediatric hematology/oncology clinics. Methods: Children’s International Mucositis Evaluation Scale (ChIMES) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Oral Mucositis Grading Scale were used in parallel form reliability. Thirty children with oral mucositis were included in the study at the inter-rater and test-retest reliability on the 14th and 15th days of chemotherapy treatment. Ninety-two children were included for the construct validity. Kappa Compliance Analysis, Spearman’s correlation coefficient, and Cronbach’s alpha were evaluated. Results: The content validity index was calculated for the scores given by the experts and the items were changed between .90 and 1.00. On the 14th and 15th days of chemotherapy treatment, the correlation values for each item of OMDQ were found to be over .64. In the construct validity, the patients’ mean age was 11.7±3.3, and 46.7% diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Cronbach Alpha value of OMDQ was .92. The OMDQ items showed a positive correlation with each other except for diarrhea questions. According to the WHO Oral Mucositis Grading Scale, 55.4% of the patients had grade 1 mucositis. The similar items of OMDQ and ChIMES had a positive significant relationship (p < .001). Conclusion: The Turkish version of the OMDQ was a valid and reliable instrument in children aged 8 - 18 years diagnosed with cancer.