Reliability and Validity of Gujarati Version of Drooling Impact Scale for Sialorrhea in Children with Neurological Impairment

Background: Sialorrhea is an overflow of saliva from the mouth. It can be commonly seen in neurologically impaired children. It occurs because of infrequent swallowing and excess amount of saliva production. For Sialorrhea, no reliable and valid subjective measure existsin Gujarati language. The drooling impact scale (DIS) is designed to measure impact of drooling but it is available in English. Aim and Objectives: This study aimed to translate the English version of DIS into Gujarati language and validate a translated Gujarati version of DIS. Method: According to WHO guidelines, the English version of DIS was translated into Gujarati language using the forward-translations and back-translation method. After translation, the Scale was filled by 50 children (28 Boys and 22 Girls) having Neurological Impairment with Sialorrhea aged 4-18 years (Mean?SD: 7.2?3.02). Internal reliability index Cronbach?s alpha and Pearson Correlation coefficient test were used to measure the reliability and validity of the Gujarati version of DIS. All the questions of DIS showed no statistically significant difference between the English version of DIS and the translated Gujarati version of DIS. Result: The results on the reliability and validity of the DIS were satisfactory as the internal reliability index Cronbach?s ? was 0.90 and Pearson Correlation Coefficient was 0.885 suggesting that the translated Gujarati version was highly correlated to the original English version. Conclusion: The translated Gujarati version of DIS demonstrated good reliability and validity. Its sufficient discriminative and evaluative properties provide the theoretical evidence for further use in research study among Gujarati population.