Arabic patient-reported outcome measures for xerostomia and oral mucositis: Translation and cross-cultural adaptation

Abstract Introduction: Xerostomia and oral mucositis (OM) are common oral complications of head-and-neck cancer (HNC) radiotherapy. Aims: This study aimed to translate and assess the key validity and reliability properties of the Summated Xerostomia Inventory (SXI) and the patient-reported OM symptom (PROMS) in the Arabic patient cohort. Materials and Methods: This observational study was conducted at King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Six expert clinicians translated both instruments and assessed them for content validity. They then evaluated validity (face and construct validity) and reliability (internal consistency and test–retest reliability) with adult participants who received radiotherapy for HNC. Results and Discussion: Thirty-eight patients (males = 19, females = 19) were recruited with a mean age of 50 years (±16). The Arabic SXI (SXI-Ar) and Arabic PROMS (PROMS-Ar) were considered relevant, sufficient, and understandable. Furthermore, high internal consistency was demonstrated by SXI-Ar (α = 0.851) and PROMS-Ar (α = 0.957). However, there were moderate to poor agreements between both instruments’ 1 st and 2 nd -week completions, as shown by the average correlation coefficients of 0.407 and −0.364, respectively. It was also evident that both xerostomia and OM scores were significantly correlated ( r = 0.372, P = 0.043). Conclusions: SXI-Ar and PROMS-Ar showed preliminary satisfactory measurement properties. Both instruments could be used in daily clinical consultations and clinician-reported assessments in oncology, nutritional, and maxillofacial care settings. However, further assessments of hypotheses testing, criterion validity, and responsiveness with a large patient cohort are needed.