Abstract
It is important to evaluate the quality of life (QOL) of patients with clinical dysphagia. The Dysphagia Handicap Index (DHI) is a questionnaire for dysphagia patients developed by Silbergleit et al. (2012). In the present study, we developed a questionnaire for Japanese-language speakers based on similar questionnaires for other languages, to achieve a Japanese version of the DHI. Approval to perform the translation was received from the original authors, and a forward translation, backward translation and pilot test were carried out. We found that the linguistic validity of the Japanese version accorded with the original DHI. Development of a Japanese questionnaire that is comparable internationally is beneficial. In the future, we aim to conduct an analysis of the validity and reliability of the developed questionnaire, and to elucidate its usefulness.
