"First Official Korean Version of Quality of Life Assessment Tool for Facial Palsy Patients Established"

Joint Study by Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine and Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong Facial Palsy Center
Development of the Korean Version of the Facial Disability Index (K-FDI)
Five-Step Process Following International Standard Guidelines
Published in the SCI(E)-indexed International Journal "Science Progress"

Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine announced on May 14 that, in collaboration with Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, it has verified the reliability and validity of the Korean version (K-FDI) of the international standard tool FDI, which assesses functional disability and quality of life in patients with facial nerve palsy.

Medical staff at Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine are providing acupuncture treatment to a patient with facial nerve paralysis. Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine

The study was conducted by the research team led by Deputy Director Lee Yunjae at the Spine and Joint Research Institute of Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine, together with Professor Nam Sangsoo's team at the Facial Palsy Center of Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong. The results were recently published in the international journal "Science Progress."

The FDI is a tool that evaluates both the physical function and the social and emotional impacts of patients with facial palsy. In South Korea, there has not previously been an official, culturally validated standard Korean version available.

The research team followed international standard guidelines, carrying out a five-step process: forward translation, reconciliation, back-translation, expert review, and preliminary testing, to develop the Korean version. Subsequently, from May to July 2021, clinical validation was conducted with 100 facial palsy patients at Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong.

Analysis showed that the overall reliability coefficient (Cronbach's alpha) of the K-FDI was 0.78, indicating an acceptable level, while the physical function domain recorded 0.81. In the test-retest reliability evaluation, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the physical function domain was 0.76, and for the social-emotional domain, it was 0.65.

In the construct validity analysis, the physical function domain showed a moderate or higher correlation with facial palsy severity assessment indices, while the social-emotional domain demonstrated a strong association with the mental health score of the quality of life assessment tool (SF-36).

Lee Yunjae, Deputy Director of the Spine and Joint Research Institute at Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine, stated, "This study is significant in that the Korean version of the FDI tool has been translated and validated according to international standards. It holds important academic and clinical value as it can serve as a standardized evaluation tool in clinical research on facial palsy in Korean medicine, as well as support treatment response monitoring and the development of patient-centered treatment plans in clinical practice."

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