title: Reliability and validity of the March of dimes preconception/prenatal family health history questionnaire: The Persian version.
abstract: In recent years, there has been a remarkable gap between rapid advancements in genetic technology and public health practice. Looking at the familial health history may bridge this gap for easier and cheaper diagnosis and prevention of congenital anomalies. The aim of this study was to validate and culturally adapt the March of Dimes Preconception/Prenatal Family Health History Questionnaire for the Iranian population. After obtaining written permission from March of Dimes, the translation-back translation of the original questionnaire was performed. The content validity was assessed by a team of 12 experts. Based on a sample of 50 general practitioners and 100 subjects referred to health centers from September to November 2014 in Tabriz, Iran, test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability were evaluated by Kappa and Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Content validity of the Persian version of the questionnaire was confirmed according to the modified kappa value above 0.76 for all the items included in this tool. Inter-rater reliability assessment yielded a kappa value between 0.62 and 0.92 for variables with dichotomous measurement scales and ICC ranged from 0.6 to 0.9 for variables with numeric scales. Test-retest re-administration produced kappa ranging from 0.62 to 0.92 for variables with dichotomous measurement scales and ICC from 0.6 to 0.9 for variables with numeric scales. The Persian version of the March of Dimes preconception/prenatal family health history questionnaire showed acceptable reliability and validity and may be used as a simple tool for the detection of risk factors of birth defects in Iranian population.
authors.affiliation: Tabriz Health Services Management Research Centre, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mashhadi Abdolahi
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Health Research Centre, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Hassan
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Kargar Maher
authors.affiliation: Tabriz Health Services Management Research Centre, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karamouz
authors.affiliation: Tabriz District Health Centre, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Khosroshahi
authors.affiliation: Tabriz Health Services Management Research Centre, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dastgiri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003469:Culture; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care; D062486:Public Health Surveillance; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: family history; questionnaire; reliability; validity