Translation and validation of the intelligibility in context scale into Sinhala for adolescents in Sri Lanka with cleft lip and palate

Mirihagalla Kankanamalage, Inoka and Cleland, Joanne and Cohen, Wendy (2023) Translation and validation of the intelligibility in context scale into Sinhala for adolescents in Sri Lanka with cleft lip and palate. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 37 (4-6). pp. 398-414. ISSN 0269-9206 (https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2022.2120417)

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Abstract

The Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS) is a parent-report screening tool used to measure parents’ perceptions of children’s functional intelligibility. This tool has been translated into over 60 languages and found to have a good reliability and validity. The purpose of the current study was to translate the ICS into Sinhala (the ICS-SIN), the main language spoken by the Sinhalese people in Sri Lanka, and to validate it with both typically developing (TD) children and children with repaired cleft lip and/or palate (CLP). The translation process followed the forward-backward-forward method. A total of 88 parents of TD children and children with CLP aged 12–15 years old (TD n = 50, CLP n = 38) completed the ICS-SIN questionnaire. Parents of TD and CLP children reported their children’s speech as most intelligible to parents and least intelligible to strangers. The ICS-SIN had high internal consistency for both groups (TD α = 0.87, p < 0.05, CLP α = 0.97, p < 0.05). The ICS-SIN total scores and item scores showed significant correlations, indicating a good construct validity. TD participant group’s ICS-SIN average mean scores (M = 4.88, SD = 0.29) were significantly higher compared to the CLP ICS-SIN average mean scores (M = 4.64, SD = 0.67) and varied according to gender in both groups, suggesting good discriminant validity. The ICS-SIN has overall good psychometric properties. Therefore, this tool has the potential to be used as a valid parent-rating screening tool for clinical and research purposes in Sri Lanka.

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