Translation and Content Validity Verification of the Korean Version of the Dysphagia Risk Assessment for the Community-dwelling Elderly (K-DRACE)

Objective: Identifying dysphagia in community-dwelling older adults is important. The Dysphagia Risk Assessment for the Community-dwelling Elderly (DRACE) is a screening assessment tool to identify the degree of dysphagia and predict the risk of aspiration in community-dwelling older adults. The purpose of this study was to adapt DRACE to Korean and investigate its content validity. Methods: The original text of DRACE was translated and back-translated into Korean. Content validity was assessed by a 10-expert committee twice. For content understanding, 10 community-dwelling older adults participated. Results: The overall average of the primary content validity index (CVI) was 0.80, with items 5, 6, and 7 below 0.75. All items were revised and supplemented with an expert committee review. In the second round of validation, the overall average CVI was 0.90. Content understanding scores ranged from 4-5, with an average of 4.88. Conclusion: This study is significant for its presentation of a systematic community-based dysphagia assessment tool. We hope that the study findings will contribute to the systematization of swallowing-related health care for community-dwelling older adults in South Korea. Additionally, it will be useful in clinical practice and research.