Reliability and Validity of Thai Version ROME III
Questionnaire for Children with Functional
Gastrointestinal Disorders
Thitima Ngoenmak MD*,
Pisek Yimyam MD**, Suporn Treepongkaruna MD***
Affiliation :
* Department of Pediatrics, Naresuan University Hospital, Naresuan University, Muang, Phitsanulok, Thailand
** Department of Pediatrics, Khon Kaen hospital, Khon Kaen, Thailand
*** Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Background : The ROME III diagnostic questionnaire for pediatric functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) is widely
accepted as an essential tool for the diagnosis of FGIDs in children and as a research tool. However, the questionnaire has
not been translated into Thai.
Objective : To transpose the ROME III diagnostic questionnaire and to determine its validity and reliability in the Thai
cultural setting.
Material and Method: The original English ROME III diagnostic questionnaire, composed of 71 items, was translated into
Thai following permission from the ROME foundation. The ROME III questionnaire, Thai version was then translated back
to English by a bi-lingual expert. The original English and the back-translation versions were compared and the validity
was analyzed using Index of Item-Objective Congruence (IOC). Finally, the Thai questionnaire was tested with 50 healthy
school-children aged four to 15 years old who had no serious illness. The questionnaire was answered by parents for children
aged four to 10 years, and self-answered by children aged over 10 years. The reliability was evaluated by Cronbach’s alpha
coefficient.
Results : Item to item comparison between the original English and the back-translation versions valued by IOC was 0.94,
which indicated high validity. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the overall 71 items was 0.98, which indicated high
reliability. Moreover, the alpha of reliability for self-report and parent-report was 0.96 and 0.97 respectively.
Conclusion : The ROME III diagnostic questionnaire in Thai is valid and reliable for the diagnosis of FGIDs in Thai children.
Keywords : ROME III, Questionnaires, Functional gastrointestinal disorders
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