Background The disabilities of arm, shoulder, and hand (DASH) questionnaire addresses the patient's disabilities and symptoms to evaluate the extent and the impact of injuries in the patient's daily-life activities. This study aims to develop a valid and reliable adaptation of DASH into the Kurdish language and culture (DASH-KU).

Methods American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons Outcomes Committee guideline was used for the cross-cultural adaptation of DASH to the Kurdish version. This study was conducted at the Shahid Saifaddin consultation clinic in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq between April and October 2022. A total of 300 participants, who were included in the study using an available sampling method, completed the self-report DASH-KU questionnaire during two consecutive assessments with a 24-hour interval.

Results The DASH-KU questionnaire demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.99) and test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation = 0.99). A strong correlation between DASH-KU scores and the patient-rated wrist/hand evaluation tool (r = 0.792) supported its construct validity. Bland–Altman plots showed good agreement between assessments with no floor (3%) or ceiling (0%) effects. Factor analysis found the scale had high adequacy (0.700) and significant sphericity (p < 0.001). The major factor explained 40% of variance with an eigenvalue of 13.14. Additionally, a five-item model explained 81.23% of DASH-KU variance, though responsiveness was suboptimal, possibly due to the short 24-hour interval between measurements.

Conclusion Our results demonstrate that DASH-KU has excellent reliability and validity in identifying upper limb injuries, and the psychometric properties of DASH-KU were similar to its original version.

The ethics committee of Sulaymaniyah University has approved this study (Ethical code: 7/29–4758 on April 18th, 2022). Informed written consent was obtained from all participants.

Article published online:
08 December 2023

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