Test-retest reliability and responsiveness of a Malay tinnitus questionnaire

INTRODUCTION: Tinnitus is a common complaint among patients with ear diseases and can be serious if not treated. Recently, a Malay tinnitus questionnaire, known as the "Borang Evaluasi Soal selidik Tinnitus" (BEST) had been developed and preliminarily validated among Malayspeaking population. The aims of the present study were to determine the test-retest reliability and responsiveness of the BEST questionnaire.

METHOD: Forty-six Malay adults (aged 23-74 years) with tinnitus were enrolled. They were instructed to fill in the BEST questionnaire accordingly. After one week, 21 of them were asked to fill in the questionnaire again. The other 25 subjects underwent tinnitus intervention for three months and following this; the BEST was administered to them again.

RESULTS: In the test-retest reliability task, the intraclass correlation values obtained were acceptably high (0.70-0.90). After the intervention, significant differences in the BEST result were found in the mind domain, main domain and composite score (p<0.05) with moderate effect sizes (0.61- 0.70).

CONCLUSION: The test-retest reliability of the BEST was found to be good. It also showed good responsiveness to intervention. The clinical usefulness of the BEST in assessing patients with tinnitus was further supported by the present study.