Translation of Dizziness Handicap Inventory Scale Into Local Languages of Pakistan

Dizziness is one of the most common symptoms of many diseases that not only affects the daily activities of the patient but also negatively alters their jobs and functions. Moreover, mostly the patients having dizziness due to vestibular causes are known to face more problems as compared to the others. A precisely valid and reliable tool has been already designed for the measurement of dizziness while keeping the common complaints of patients in mind. The dizziness handicap inventory (DHI) was introduced in 1990 by Jacobson and Newman. The mentioned questionnaire comprises 25 questions that categorize the dizziness effects in three main areas namely; functional (9 questions, 36 points), emotional (9 questions, 36 points) and physical (7 questions, 28 points). The maximum score is 100 and the minimum is 0. The higher the score, the greater handicap is considered. It has high internal consistency. This tool is widely used in clinical setups to evaluate the condition of the patients and determine the levels to which their quality of life has been affected by dizziness. Additionally, it is very easy to be filled and hardly takes 10 minutes at maximum. The DHI is highly compatible with the international classification of functioning, disability and health tool, which was standardized by WHO in 2001 for measuring the effects of various diseases. The aim of DHI is to evaluate the self-perceived handicap effects of dizziness. The target population are the patients suffering from dizziness due to brain injuries, multiple sclerosis and vestibular disorders.

Since 1990, the DHI has been translated into various languages in order to make its application better. Some examples of the translated languages include Arabic, Brazilian, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Dutch, French, Norwegian, and German. All of these translated versions have been proved to be very useful, with high validity, reliability and internal consistency.

Thus, The DHI is considered the most beneficial questionnaire for the evaluation of dizziness and unsteadiness, especially related to vestibular rehabilitation. However, this questionnaire does not have any versions that can be utilized in Pakistan such as Urdu, Pushto, Punjabi, Sindhi and Balochi. The purpose of this study is to translate the DHI into Urdu, Pushto, Punjabi, Sindhi and Balochi languages and then evaluating the validity and reliability of these versions in order to make this questionnaire available for research and clinics for the population of Pakistan.