Development, Translation and Validation of COPD Awareness Questionnaire (COPD-AQ): A Pilot Study

Background

The current study sought to create, translate, and pilot a culturally relevant COPD Awareness Questionnaire (COPD-AQ) to measure awareness of the disease among Indian patients in the Nilgiris district.

Materials and Methods

It developed a 20-item questionnaire through a four-stage process: item creation through literature review, expert validation, translation into Tamil and back-translation, and field testing. The final questionnaire measured two constructs - understanding and managing COPD. 60 participants were included in the pilot.

Results

Item-level and scale-level content validity was established with CVI ≥ 0.83 and CVI/Ave ≥ 0.90, respectively. The questionnaire had internal consistency of α = 0.860). Test-retest reliability was determined based on Pearson's correlation coefficient (r = 0.932), Cohen's kappa (κ = 0.714), and Intra-Class Correlation (ICC = 0.894), all of which showed good reliability.

Conclusion

COPD-AQ is valid, reliable, culturally important, simple to use, and good for raising COPD awareness among Tamil-speaking people.