Validation of a second questionnaire in Spanish to assess the quality of life of people with diabetic feet

A research team, led from Lleida, has validated the quality of life questionnaire for people with chronic wounds called Cardiff Wound Impact Schedule (CWIS) in Spanish in a group of diabetic people with foot ulcers (diabetic foot). Until now, the questionnaire, which was created in an original version in English, had not been validated in the Spanish population. This study, which has been published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, has analysed the quality of life of 141 people with chronic foot ulcers by adapting and validating this questionnaire in Spanish. The questionnaire is available on the website of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Lleida (IRBLleida).

This validation follows the work started in 2020 in which this research group also validated the Diabetic Foot Ulcer Scale-Short Form (DFS-SF) questionnaire in Spanish. "We are working to adapt questionnaires validated in other countries to our population to demonstrate their validity and reliability," explained the first author of the article and researcher at the Center for Biomedical Research Network on Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases (CIBERDEM), the IRBLleida and the Sant Pau Biomedical Research Institute, Minerva Granado. "We have confirmed the validity of the questionnaire, but more studies are needed in Spain to know its applicability to a large part of the affected population," added Granado.

Diabetic foot ulcers negatively affect the quality of life of people with diabetes. For this reason, the researchers considered it necessary to adapt this internationally validated questionnaire for use in Spain. The people with diabetes who participated in the study were patients at the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital in Lleida. The clinical variables of each participant were reviewed and personal interviews were also carried out to gain a detailed understanding of each person's situation.

The research team is made up of research staff from the Institute of Biomedical Research of Lleida (IRBLleida), the University of Lleida (UdL), the Diabetic Foot Unit of the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital of Lleida (HUAV), the Endocrinology and Nutrition Service of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas Asociadas (CIBERDEM) of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, the University of Alicante, the Grupo Nacional de Estudio y Asesoramiento de Úlceras miedo Presión (GNEAUPP), and the Department of Medicine of the University of Vic and the University of Central Catalonia.

This research has been possible thanks to funding from the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Diabetes y Enfermedades Metabólicas Asociadas (CIBERDEM) of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III and a grant from the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (FPU15/03005).

Article: Granado-Casas, M.; Martinez-Gonzalez, D.; Martínez-Alonso, M.; Dòria, M.; Alcubierre, N.; Valls, J.; Julve, J.; Verdú-Soriano, J.; Mauricio, D. Psychometric Validation of the Cardiff Wound Impact Schedule Questionnaire in a Spanish Population with Diabetic Foot Ulcer. J. Clin. Med. 2021, 10, 4023. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10174023