ABSTRACT
Introduction
Dizziness during childhood and adolescence interferes with psychological behavior, and can lead to consequences such as poor academic performance and language disorders.
Purpose
To develop and verify the applicability of the short version of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory-Child/Adolescent (DHI-CA) in school-going children and adolescents.
Methods
A methodological validation study developed in municipal public network teaching units of Cabula Sanitary District/ Beiru de Salvador, Bahia. Data were collected by means of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory Child/Adolescent (DHI-CA) and proposed short version denominated Dizziness Handicap Inventory Child/Adolescent-short form (DHI-CA/SF). The DHI-CA/SF is composed of 15 objective questions divided into subscales corresponding to emotional, physical and functional aspects.
Results
The sample of 97 children and adolescents was composed of 69 girls (71.1%) and 28 (28.9%), boys. The age-range was from 7 to 15 years with mean age of 11 years. Internal consistency relative to the total scale was α=0.84; and α=0.66 for the functional; α=0.61, emotional, and α=0.65 for the physical subscale. Relative to agreement between the two applications of DHI-CA/SF, the authors verified that the intra-examiner intraclass correlation coefficients demonstrated satisfactory agreement, and satisfactory to excellent agreement for the items in the second application. Agreement values in the second application were: - emotional: 0.70; - Functional: 0.93, and Physical: 0.80.
Conclusion
By means of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory Child/Adolescent DHI-CA it was possible to obtain a short version denominated Dizziness Handicap Inventory Child/Adolescent-short form (DHI/CA-SF) applicable in children or adolescents with complaints of dizziness.
Dizziness; Child; Surveys and questionnaires; Quality of life; Validity of tests
