Hindi Translation, Validation and Reliability Testing of the Dynamic Gait Index in Stroke Patients with residual weakness
Description
Stroke is one of the leading causes of long-term disability and often results in impaired balance, gait disturbances, reduced mobility, and residual muscle weakness. Assessment of gait and dynamic balance is important for planning rehabilitation and monitoring functional recovery in stroke patients. The Dynamic Gait Index (DGI) is a widely used outcome measure designed to assess gait, balance, and fall risk during functional walking tasks. This study, titled “Hindi Translation, Validation and Reliability Testing of the Dynamic Gait Index in Stroke Patients with Residual Weakness,” aims to translate the original English version of the Dynamic Gait Index into Hindi and evaluate its psychometric properties among Hindi-speaking stroke patients. The study follows standardized translation and cross-cultural adaptation guidelines, including forward translation, synthesis, backward translation, expert committee review, and pilot testing to ensure linguistic and conceptual equivalence between the original and translated versions. The Hindi-translated DGI is evaluated for face validity, content validity, reliability, and clinical applicability. Reliability testing includes inter-rater reliability, intra-rater reliability, and internal consistency using appropriate statistical methods. Stroke patients with residual weakness are recruited from physiotherapy and rehabilitation settings according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Dynamic Gait Index consists of eight functional gait tasks, including walking on level surfaces, changing gait speed, head turning during walking, obstacle negotiation, pivot turning, and stair climbing. Each task is scored on a four-point ordinal scale, with lower scores indicating greater gait impairment and increased fall risk. The study is expected to establish the Hindi version of the Dynamic Gait Index as a valid, reliable, and culturally appropriate assessment tool for Hindi-speaking stroke patients. The translated scale may help clinicians and researchers improve gait assessment, monitor rehabilitation outcomes, and enhance the quality of stroke rehabilitation services in Indian clinical settings.
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Steps to reproduce
1. Permission of the original developers of the scale was obtained. 2.After receiving the permission, translation process followed the Beaton guidelines.[5] 3. The study was conducted in 3 phases : Phase 1 - Translation process Phase I| - Validation Phase III - Reliability testing
Institutions
- Maharishi Markandeshwar University, MullanaHaryana, Ambāla