Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Preliminary Validation of the Italian Version of the Feeding-Swallowing Impact Survey for both Members of Parental Dyads

The Feeding/Swallowing Impact Survey (FS-IS) is the first validated instrument to measure the impact of Pediatric Feeding Disorder (PFD) on their caregivers. This study aimed to translate and adapt the FS-IS into Italian (FS-IS-IT) and analyze its reliability and validity, for both fathers and mothers. The FS-IS-IT was developed using Beaton et al.‘s 5-stage process. This cross-sectional study involved 32 dyads of parents of children with PFD and 15 dyads of caregivers of children with developmental disorders without PFD. Twenty caregivers completed the FS-IS-IT questionnaire twice to ensure test-retest reliability. All caregivers completed the Zarit Burden Inventory (ZBI) and the IDDSI Diet Functional Scale for construct validity analysis. ROC analysis was used to evaluating the diagnostic properties of FS-IS-IT in screening between dyads of children with PFD and dyads without these symptoms. The FS-IS-IT was reliable for both fathers and mothers, with satisfactory internal consistency (mothers’ McDonald’s ω=0.93; fathers’ McDonald’s ω=0.94) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient > 0.97). Moderate-to-strong statistically significant correlations (mothers: r(32)=0.73; p =.018; fathers: r(32)=-0.42; p=.018). r(32)=-0.41; p=.018). The FSIS-IT was featured by optimal diagnostics (mothers: AUC=0.97; fathers: AUC=0.94), a cut-off of 1.58 for mothers and 1.65 for fathers has shown good specificity and sensitivity. The FS-IS-IT is a reliable and valid tool for the assessment of the impact of PFD and shows optimal diagnostic properties.