The functional listening index for pediatric (FLI-P) : translation and adaptation into the Malay language and psychometric properties evaluation

Abstract

The FLI-P is a listening skill outcome measure comprising of 64 items, which are divided into six different phases ranging from basic sound awareness to advanced open-set listening abilities. It is used to track the development of functional listening skills in children to inform early and ongoing decisions by parents and healthcare professionals. Given that FLI-P is developed for English-speaking children, it may not be culturally appropriate, reliable or even valid for measuring the performance of children who use different languages. Objectives: This study aims to translate and adapt the FLI-P into the Malay language and measure its reliability and validity. Method: The forward translation was carried out by three bilingual experienced speech language therapists, followed by backward translation by two professional translators. An expert committee including the translation leader, experienced clinicians, a linguist and developers harmonized the MFLI-P version. Content evaluation involved eight experts, while face validation was conducted by a panel of 10 stakeholders including six clinicians and four laypeople. The finalized MFLI-P was administered to 90 typical-hearing (TH) and 60 hearing-impaired (HI) children aged 0 to 72 months old for determining the construct and criterion validity and inter-rater reliability. Results: The pronouns used in the MFLI-P were changed to neutral singular pronoun of the Malay language. More elaborated sentences with examples to explain each skill were used in the MFLI-P to increase items’ clarity and enhanced readability. MFLI-P showed an excellent content validity (content validity index, CVI= 0.99), face validity (face validity index, FVI= 0.95), and a strong internal consistency reliability (Cronbach ‘s alpha= 0.98). Significantly different total scores were observed between TH and HI children indicating good known-group validity. A different strength of positive correlation between scores of six phases of the M-FLIP and total score demonstrating good convergent and divergent validity. A high correlation between the age with the scores suggesting good predictive validity. Conclusion: The MFLI-P is a valid listening outcome measure for Malay-speaking children aged 0 to 72 months.