Validation of the Japanese Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire

Abstract

Background For patients with childhood‐onset chronic illnesses, the transition to adult care requires an understanding of transition readiness and effectiveness evaluation methods. However, no psychometrically verified scales exist in Japan. This study aimed to develop a Japanese version of the Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire (TRAQ) and verify its validity and reliability. Methods The Japanese TRAQ was developed in accordance with international guidelines, followed by a preliminary survey to verify face validity among six participants who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Next, 107 patients who fulfilled the same inclusion criteria were asked to complete the questionnaire and provide basic information (main survey). After descriptive statistics analysis, the construct validity of the Japanese TRAQ was tested using the t‐test and Pearson’s correlation coefficients. Cronbach’s α coefficients were calculated to assess reliability. Results In the main survey, 76 participants with no missing data were included in the complete data analysis (40 males and 36 females; mean age, 17.8 and 18.2 years, respectively). The mean total Japanese TRAQ score was 3.9. Cronbach’s α coefficients were 0.94 overall and 0.80‐0.96 for each of the four domains. The known‐groups analysis revealed that participants with higher age (r=0.23, p=0.044), those having knowledge of disease name (yes [4.0] vs. no [3.4]; p<0.001) and making unaccompanied hospital visits (with parent/others [3.7] vs. alone [4.4]; p<0.001) had significantly higher total TRAQ scores. Conclusion We preliminarily confirmed the validity and reliability of the Japanese TRAQ.