Persian Adaptation of a Questionnaire of Environmental Risk Factors in Multiple Sclerosis (Envims-Q) Publisher Pubmed



Sahraian MA¹ ; Naghshineh H¹ ; Shati M² ; Jahromi SR³ ; Rezaei N⁴ Show Affiliations
Source: Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders Published:2016

Abstract

Background It seems that gene-environment interaction play most important role in Multiple Sclerosis development. Increasing the incidence and prevalence of MS during the recent decades in the low prevalence area such as Iran is explained better by environment factors. Environmental Risk Factors in Multiple Sclerosis (the ‘EnvIMS-Q′) is a 6-page self-administered questionnaire for case control studies. Objectives the objectives of study are validation and adaptation of the EnvIMS-Q′ then development of a Persian version for case control studies in Persian population. Methods This questionnaire translated literally and in culturally relevant form, then content validation process was done by three groups’ experts. According to giving rating to each item, each section and the whole instrument, we calculated their content validation indexes and also added some new questions and a new section to EnvIMS-Q. Finally, we analyzed repeatability of the answers within a 4 weeks interval. Results Relevancy and clarity indexes of all items were more than 80%. Scale relevancy index equaled 99% and scale clarity index equaled 97%. Repeatability of most items was acceptable. Conclusions the use of standardized validated questionnaires will assist the researchers to perform local studies on the role of environmental factors on the basis of reliable data. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.