The RAND-36 Health Survey 1.0: Translation, Reliability, Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Gujarati Version

Abstract

Background: The Short Form 36 Item Survey is the most typically used instrument for assessing health-related quality of life.1 Two identical versions of the initial instrument are currently available: the general public domain, license-free RAND-36, and also the commercial SF 36.2 RAND 36 don t seem to be available within the Gujarati language. The aim of this study was to translate and culturally adapt the RAND 36 into the Gujarati language and measure its reliability and validity.\nMethods: According to the guidelines by the International Quality of Life Assessment project, a test of item-scale correlation, a sequence of translation, and validation were implemented for the translation of the Gujarati version of the RAND-36. Following pilot testing, the English and the Gujarati versions of the RAND-36 were administered to a random sample of 120 apparently healthy individuals to test validity and 96 respondents completed the Gujarati RAND-36 again after two weeks to test reliability. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance, multi-trait scaling analysis, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson’s product-moment correlation analysis, and Intra-Class Correlation (ICC) at p < 0.05\nResults: The median Cronbach s alphas for the Gujarati RAND-36 in multiple subgroups exceeded 0.70 for every scale except one. Two of the English RAND-36 scales had median Cronbach s alphas that exceeded 0.70; the rest exceeded 0.50. Test-retest correlations were found statistically significant for both versions. Product-moment correlations to test the equivalence of the corresponding Gujarati and English versions of the RAND-36 ranged from 0.73 to 0.92. The Gujarati version of the RAND-36 has high internal consistency (Cronbach’s α=0.809) and test-retest reliability (Intra-class correlation coefficient=0.746, 95% CI: 0.58, 0.94).\nConclusions: The Gujarati version of the RAND-36 performed well and the findings suggest that it is a reliable and valid measure of health-related quality of life among the general Gujarati population.\n\nKeywords: RAND-36, cross-cultural translation, quality of life, health status assessment, Gujarati.