French Translation and Validation of an Objective Swallowing Rating Scale: The PAS.

INTRODUCTION

Oropharyngeal dysphagia is a severe swallowing disorder with consequences that can be life-threatening or impair quality of life. One of the major risks is laryngeal penetration, which can lead to the bolus being aspirated. It is best assessed and quantified using the Penetration-Aspiration Scale (PAS), which is a validated tool in English. Our aim was to translate in French and validate the French version of the Penetration-Aspiration Scale (Fr-PAS).

METHODS

Our study was 2-fold: (i) to assess the contribution of the Fr-PAS for French-speaking speech-language therapists (SLTs) in their management of dysphagic patients using a survey questionnaire and (ii) to translate the scale and to perform linguistic and psychometric validation of the Fr-PAS and its reliability by assessing 64 video sequences from patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia using fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing. Intrarater reliability was assessed using a 15-day test-retest procedure by Kendall tau. Interrater reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha.

RESULTS

The survey demonstrated strong interest in the use of Fr-PAS, with 96.43% of SLTs providing positive responses. The Fr-PAS reported high internal consistency (α = 0.85) and reproducibility (τ = 0.8583 and p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

The Fr-PAS is reliable and reproducible over time. The tool responds to a specific demand in assessing the severity of dysphagia and its management by SLT and the clinical team.