Investigating Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI) Worldwide: A Systematic Review

Journal of Voice

Fathipour-Azar, Z., Fekar Gharamaleki, F., et al. (2024).

Journal of Voice, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2024.11.001.

<div>This systematic review investigates the cross-cultural validity and reliability of different language versions of the Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI) self-report questionnaire for identifying vocal fatigue in individuals.</div>

Not stated

2015 to 2024

<div>Original studies published in English. Excludes randomized controlled trials, case reports, qualitative studies, cross-sectional studies, and protocol studies.</div>

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<div>Translated versions of the Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI) demonstrate different levels of validity, reliability, and applicability across a variety of languages and cultural adaptations. Studies reported good psychometric properties for the following translation versions:</div> <div> <ul> <li><strong>Construct Validity: </strong>English, Malayalam, Turkish, Spanish, Hong Kong Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, and Polish versions;</li> <li><strong>Convergent Validity:</strong> Mandarin Chinese version;</li> <li><strong>Predictive and Clinical Validity:</strong> English, Persian, Tamil, Thai, Danish, and Spanish versions;</li> <li><strong>Sensitivity:&nbsp;</strong>English, German, Malayalam, Tamil, Turkish, Spanish, Hong Kong Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Thai, Polish, Finnish, and Danish versions;</li> <li><strong>Specificity: </strong>English, German, Malayalam, Tamil, Turkish, Spanish, Hong Kong Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Finnish, and Danish versions;</li> <li><strong>Internal Consistency:</strong> English, German, Malayalam, Persian, Tamil, Turkish, Spanish, Hong Kong Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Thai, Polish, Finnish, and Danish versions; and</li> <li><strong>Test-Retest Reliability: </strong>English, German, Malayalam, Persian, Turkish, Hong Kong Chinese, Thai, Polish, Finnish, and Danish versions.</li> </ul> <div>Additional research is needed to investigate cultural subtleties and to conduct additional validation studies of the VFI's relevance.</div> </div>