Translation and validation of the Chinese version of the menstrual distress questionnaire

BackgroundThe Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) is a commonly used questionnaire that assesses various symptoms and distress associated with the menstrual cycle in women. However, the questionnaire has not been completely translated into Chinese with rigorous reliability and validity testing.MethodsThis study translated the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire Form Cycle (MDQC) from English into Chinese: MDQCC in two stages. First, it was translated forward and backward using Jones' model; second, to test the validity and reliability, 210 Chinese-speaking women were recruited through online announcements and posters posted between June 2019 and May 2020. Expert validity, construct validity, convergent validity, and factorial validity were determined using content validity index (CVI), intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), composite reliability (CR), and exploratory factor analysis, respectively. For concurrent criterion validity, MDQCC score was compared with three existing pain scales. Reliability was evaluated using internal consistency across items and two-week test-retest reliability over time.ResultsThe CVI for content validity was .92. Item-CVI for expert validities among the 46 items ranged from .50 - 1; scale-CVI for the eight subscales, from .87 - 1; ICC, from .650 - .897; and CRs, from .303 - .881. Pearson correlation coefficients between MDQCC and short-form McGill pain questionnaire, present pain intensity, and visual analog scale scores were .640, .519, and .575, respectively. Cronbach's alpha for internal consistency was satisfactory (.932). ICC for test-retest reliability was .852 for the entire MDQCC.ConclusionMDQCC was valid and reliable for Mandarin Chinese-speaking women. It can be used to evaluate female psychiatric symptoms related to the menstrual cycle in future work. The Menstrual Distress Questionnaire has been used to evaluate menstrual distress, including dysmenorrhoea and premenstrual syndrome. This questionnaire has been translated into Persian, Korean, Japanese, and Cantonese, rendering it to be used more and more widely all over the world. The study translated all 46 items of the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire from English to Mandarin Chinese using a two-stage strategy. The Chinese version of this questionnaire developed by the present study was found to be a valid and reliable tool in Chinese Mandarin-speaking female populations. It could be used to evaluate women's physical and psychiatric symptoms related to the menstrual cycle in future works.