Portuguese validation of the foot health status Questionnaire in patients with diabetic foot disease

Purpose: This study aims to adapt and validate the Foot Health Status Questionnaire, developed by
Bennett et al., in Portuguese patients with diabetic foot.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 143 patients with diabetic foot.
A principal component analysis with oblique rotation and a confirmatory factor analysis using structural
equation modeling were performed.
Results: The Portuguese version of the FHSQ (FHSQ-PT) in patients with diabetic foot remains equal
to the original version, although with all factors correlated with each other. All scales presented high
internal consistency values (pain: ω = 0.884; function: ω = 0.890; general foot health: ω = 0.910; and
footwear: ω = 0.702), except for the footwear scale, although with a minimum acceptable coefficient.
The FHSQ-PT scales showed good convergent validity and good discriminant validity. The FHSQ-PT
scales were also able to discriminate between male and female patients as well as between patients
with an active diabetic foot ulcer from those who did not.
Conclusions: The results of the validated FHSQ-PT for Portuguese patients with diabetic foot showed
good psychometric properties, being a useful, objective, and small instrument that may be used in
clinical practice by health professionals without consuming too much time.
This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Center (CIPsi/UM) School of Psychology, University of Minho, supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Portuguese State Budget (UIDB/01662/2020) and by a Ph.D. fellowship from FCT assigned to the first author (SFRH/BD/131780/2017)