Evaluating the Construct Validity of the Arabic Eating Assessment Tool in Patients with COVID-19.

INTRODUCTION

Construct validity represents the degree to which a tool assesses the construct that it is proposed to determine. The present study aimed to evaluate the construct validity of the Arabic version of the Eating Assessment Tool (A-EAT-10) questionnaire to determine its informative value and justify its use in clinical practice and research.

METHODS

A retrospective study was accomplished on 124 adult hospitalized COVID-19 patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia as evidenced by screening tools A-EAT-10 and Yale swallow protocol (YSP). Eighty of these 124 patients were evaluated by fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES).

RESULTS

The A-EAT-10 questionnaire shows high construct validity, evidenced by exploratory factor analysis and its significant positive correlation with the YSP and validated FEES scales.

CONCLUSION

A-EAT-10 verified its applicability in both research and clinical applications.