Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the arabic version of the brace questionnaire used for the treatment of adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis

Aim: Brace questionnaire (BrQ) is widely used in order to evaluate the impact of brace treatment in adolescent scoliosis on the quality of life. However, it had been translated to different languages, it has not been translated or validated for the Arabic language. Material and Methods: The Brace questionnaire was translated into Arabic language and back-translated, cross-culturally adapted by experts and according to the international guidelines, then was given to 51 adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients (46 females and 5 males) were undergoing brace treatment to evaluate its reliability and validity. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values for test-retest reliability with a 1-week interval between the tests. Concurrent validity had been made using Pearson's Correlation Coefficient by correlating the brace questionnaire and the scoliosis research society-22 questionnaire. Results: The Cronbach's alpha of the Arabic BrQ was 0.918, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.938, and the Pearson correlation coefficient between the Arabic Brace questionnaire and Scoliosis research society 22 was 0.758 (p < 0.001) Discussion: The translated BrQ demonstrated a very good correlation between the Arabic brace questionnaire and the scoliosis research society 22, internal consistency values and concurrent validity were comparable to those of prior studies, wearing the brace and keeping it on for a long time has been shown to have negative effects on overall life quality. Treatment of scoliosis with a brace should not be restricted to clinical and radiological aspects, but should also involve therapeutic education regarding the quality of life.