Psychometric evaluation of the Dutch translation of the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering for adults (OASES-A-D)
Highlights
► The Dutch OASES-A (OASES-A-D) showed good item properties. ► The internal consistency of the OASES-A-D subsections and sections was good. ► Concurrent validity of the OASES-A-D was moderate to high. ► Construct validity of the OASES-A-D was demonstrated by known-group analysis.
Introduction
Research in recent decades has shown that stuttering is often associated with negative impact on various aspects of a speaker's life (e.g. Craig et al., 2009, Klein and Hood, 2004, Klompas and Ross, 2004, Koedoot et al., 2011). This has led to greater awareness among many researchers and clinicians of the need to adopt broad-based measures that reflect the broader stuttering disorder (i.e., the difficulties a person may experience as a result of producing stuttering behaviors, including negative impact on quality of life and subjective well-being), in decision-making, clinical practice, and research (e.g. Cummins, 2010, Franic and Bothe, 2008, Ingham, 2003, Yaruss, 2010, Yaruss and Quesal, 2006). One measure that was designed for comprehensively assessing the stuttering disorder is the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering (OASES; Yaruss and Quesal, 2006, Yaruss and Quesal, 2010). This questionnaire evaluates “the experience of the stuttering disorder from the perspective of individuals who stutter” (Yaruss & Quesal, 2006, p. 90). The design of the OASES was based on the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF; WHO, 2001). There are three versions of the OASES: The OASES-A was designed for adults, ages 18 and above; the OASES-T (Yaruss, Coleman, & Quesal, 2010) was designed for teenagers, ages 13–17; and the OASES-S (Yaruss, Quesal, & Coleman, 2010) was designed for school-age children, ages 7–12.
Empirical data have provided preliminary support for the reliability and validity of the OASES-A, based on samples collected in the United States (Yaruss & Quesal, 2006). However, analyses conducted to date have not thoroughly examined several aspects of the psychometric properties of the instrument, one of which is convergent validity (Franic & Bothe, 2008). Further, data from individuals residing in locations other than the United States have only recently become available (e.g., Bricker-Katz et al., 2009, Chun et al., 2010, Cream et al., 2010, Metten et al., 2007, Mulcahy et al., 2008). The adult version of the OASES has been translated into Spanish (Yaruss & Quesal, 2010) and, at the time of this writing, there are ongoing efforts to translate the various versions of the OASES into approximately 15 other languages worldwide (Yaruss & Quesal, 2009). Key aspects of the translation process involve validation of the translation and evaluation of the psychometric data that result from administration of the translated version to native speakers of the target languages.
Among researchers and clinicians in the Netherlands, a desire exists to have a well-functioning Dutch patient-reported outcome measure in order to be able to assess those aspects of the stuttering disorder that are directly relevant to the lives of people who stutter. To fulfill this need, we translated the English OASES-A into Dutch. In the present study, we describe the translation process and evaluate the psychometric performance of the Dutch version of the OASES-A. We aim to contribute to the evidence base of the performance of the OASES-A in general, and the Dutch translation in particular.
Section snippets
Method
The OASES-A questionnaire was first published in 2006 (Yaruss & Quesal, 2006) based on preliminary research that had been conducted over the prior 10 years (e.g., Yaruss, 2001). Below, we describe the characteristics of the original instrument, the translation process of the Dutch version and the psychometric evaluation.
Stuttering characteristics
Table 2 presents the mean scores on the OASES-A-D and the other stuttering measurement instruments (i.e. the SA scale and CA scale) applied in this study. To facilitate comparison of results from the OASES-A-D with the current version of the OASES-A, as well as results obtained from translations of the OASES-A in other languages, Table 2 also reports the mean scores in accordance with the 5-point scale scoring system introduced in Yaruss and Quesal (2008) and used in all three of the current
Discussion
In this article, we have reported on the translation and psychometric characteristics of the Dutch version of the OASES for adults (OASES-A-D). The OASES-A-D showed acceptable item properties, a good internal consistency and moderate-to-high significant correlations with other existing instruments. The translated questionnaire showed no ceiling effects, and the majority of the items exhibited ranges from the lowest possible score of 1 to the highest possible score of 5. For fifteen out of 100
Acknowledgments
We would especially like to thank all respondents and clinicians who have participated in this study. Furthermore, we would like to thank Lianne Hartog and Nicole van der Weele for their contribution to the collection of the data in this project. We thank Marie-Christine Franken and Elly Stolk for their comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. Portions of this research were supported by a University of Pittsburgh Central Research Development Fund grant to the third author.
Caroline Koedoot is a PhD student at the Institute of Health Policy & Management of the Erasmus University and at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). Her work currently focuses on applied quality of life research and on a RCT into the cost-effectiveness of the Demands and Capacities Model based treatment compared with the Lidcombe Program.
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Caroline Koedoot is a PhD student at the Institute of Health Policy & Management of the Erasmus University and at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). Her work currently focuses on applied quality of life research and on a RCT into the cost-effectiveness of the Demands and Capacities Model based treatment compared with the Lidcombe Program.
Matthijs Versteegh is a PhD student at the Institute of Health Policy & Management of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam (The Netherlands). His research focuses on the practical and normative issues associated with quality of life measurement in the context of public decision making in health care.
J. Scott Yaruss, PhD, CCC-SLP, BRS-FD, ASHA Fellow, is an associate professor and director of the Master's Degree programs in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Yaruss's research examines factors that may contribute to the development of stuttering in young children as well as methods for evaluating stuttering treatment outcomes.