RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To assess the psychometric properties of the Quebec French translation of the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI-FQ). DESIGN: The original version of the THI was translated into French by two different people, and then revised before being administered to 221 study participants. A subgroup of 75 participants also completed the French versions of the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) and the Tinnitus Reaction Questionnaire (TRQ). STUDY SAMPLE: The study participants used French as their home language, had completed an otolaryngology (ENT) assessment, and had sought help with disabling tinnitus. RESULTS: No differences were found according to gender, age, or degree of hearing loss. The THI-FQ was very stable over a period of approximately 32 days. Internal consistency was 0.93 for the total score. Convergent validity with the TRQ was 0.81 (p < 0.001) while construct validity, as obtained with the BDI-II, was 0.74 (p < 0.001). As in other studies, the factor analysis did not confirm the structure proposed by Newman et al in the original study (1996). CONCLUSIONS: The THI-FQ presents very good reliability and validity, comparable to translations in other languages and the original version.
