Bilinguals' Responses to Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) Written in English and in Japanese

• Published in: Nihon Hotetsu Shika Gakkai Zasshi Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 163 - 172
• Main Authors: Kawamura, Makoto, Nakai, Nobuyuki, Hamada, Taizo, Sadamori, Shinsuke, Sasahara, Hisako
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: Japan Prosthodontic Society 2004
• Subjects: Japan; Oral Health Impact Profile; quality of life; questionnaire; translated validity
• ISSN: 0389-5386; 1883-177X
• DOI: 10.2186/jjps.48.163

Purpose: The Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) is a measure of oral health related to quality of life and was developed in Australia but is being used increasingly in other countries. The original English version of OHIP was translated into Japanese in order to validate the translated questionnaire for use among populations in Japan. Methods: A study was therefore undertaken to compare answers for the original version with those for the translated version. Data were collected from 39 bilinguals in Japan, using both English and Japanese versions of the questionnaire. The translated validity of the OHIP was analyzed by means of coincidence rate and A. coefficient. Results: The mean of the coincidence rate was 0.75 for functional limitation, 0.76 for physical pain, 0.69 for psychological discomfort, 0.79 for physical disability, 0.77 for psychological disability, 0.90 for social disability and 0.85 for handicap. Forty-one items out of 49 had a A coefficient (index assessed symmetry) of more than 0.4. Cronbach's a of the original OHIP subscales ranged from 0.76 to 0.90 and those of the translated OHIP subscales ranged from 0.77 to 0.89, suggesting that the internal consistency of most subscales in the two versions were almost similar. Spearman's rank correlation in 7 subscales between the two versions ranged from 0.83 to 0.92 (p <0.001), which showed significant correlation, suggesting that the OHIP was acceptable across the two countries. Conclusions: Although it is important to replicate these findings in other populations of different ages, the findings suggest that the Japanese version of the OHIP has good reliability and translated validity.