Translation and validation of the wound-specific quality of life instrument Cardiff Wound Impact Schedule in a Swedish population

Purpose: To translate and validate the wound-specific health-related quality of life instrument, the Cardiff Wound Impact Schedule (CWIS) in a Swedish population.

Methods: The instrument was first translated into Swedish, using the Standard Linguistic Validation Process. The Swedish version of the CWIS was then tested for its psychometric properties in a Swedish context. A total of 117 patients with acute and hard-to-heal wounds were included. The patients were asked to fill in the Swedish version of the CWIS and the generic instrument SF-36 at baseline and after 1 week. Patients with acute wounds were also asked to fill in both instruments after 6 weeks.

Results: Face validity and content validity were assessed by patients and an expert group, and judged as good. Criterion validity was calculated with correlation between CWIS and SF-36, reaching moderate to high values. Reliability of the three domains of the CWIS measured with internal consistency and test-retest stability was acceptable to excellent. Internal responsiveness was assessed with standardised response mean and showed moderate to high sensitivity.

Conclusions: This study concludes that the Swedish version of CWIS is a valid and reliable tool for measuring health-related quality of life in patients with acute and hard-to-heal wounds.