Reliability and validity of the Turkish Alopecia Areata Quality of Life Index Alopesi Areata Yaşam Kalitesi İndeksi Türkçe güvenilirlik ve geçerliliği

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Eroğlu S. S., Atış G., Sarı A. Ş., YAŞAR Ş.

Turkderm Turkish Archives of Dermatology and Venereology, cilt.60, sa.2, ss.74-80, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus, TRDizin)

Özet

Objective: Alopecia areata (AA) is a common cause of hair loss that adversely affects quality of life. This study aimed to adapt the Alopecia Areata Quality of Life Index Questionnaire (AA-QLI) into Turkish and investigate its validity and reliability. Materials and Methods: The AA-QLI scale was administered to 20 patients diagnosed with AA as a preliminary study, in accordance with the World Health Organization’s scale adaptation criteria. Within six months of completing the translation phases of the questionnaire, 78 patients were included in the main study. The Dermatology Quality of Life Index (DLQI) was used to assess the concurrent validity of the AA-QLI scale. Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for internal consistency, independent t-tests were used for group comparisons, and Pearson correlation tests were employed to determine the relationships between variables. To assess the test-retest reliability, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and paired t-tests were used. Results: The mean age of the patients was 32.85±10.43 years, and the mean total AA-QLI score was 41.77±14.76. The Cronbach’s alpha value was 0.941 for the entire scale. The ICC ranged from a minimum of 0.773 (0.716-0.846) to a maximum of 0.922 (0.885-0.947). Factor analysis indicated that the scale fit a three-factor structure, with factor loadings exceeding 0.4. The external validity assessment revealed a positive correlation between the AA-QLI and DLQI. The validity analysis of the questionnaire demonstrated that the scale has strong validity (R=0.934, p=0.0001) and reliability (internal consistency R=0.89, p=0.0001, α=0.941), as supported by the factor analysis. Conclusion: The AA-QLI questionnaire was successfully adapted into Turkish. It was found to be appropriate for the Turkish population, and its reliability and validity analyses were completed.