VALIDATION OF THE KURDISH LANGUAGE VERSION OF THE STANDARDIZED COSMESIS AND NASAL OUTCOMES SURVEY (SCHNOS), APPLICATION FOR SEPTORHINOPLASTY HEALTH

Background The Standardized Cosmesis and Health Nasal Outcomes Survey (SCHNOS) questionnaire is a recent tool for evaluating patient satisfaction in both functional and cosmetic components of rhinoplasty. It is a reliable, steady, and corroborated patient-reported outcome measure that is not available in Kurdish. Objectives To evaluate the application of the Kurdish version of the Standardized Cosmesis and Health Nasal Outcomes Survey (SCHNOS) scale for Septorhinoplasty surgery and research. Materials and Methodsconducted four centre studies to validate The Kurdish version of the scale We adhered to a strict translation procedure, including a forward and back translation and reconciliation interviews, to ensure the original content and concepts were preserved compared for patients and control groups and tailored to the demographic the instrument was intended for. Resultsshowed that the Kurdish version of the SCHNOS was conceptually comparable to the original English version and demonstrated high internal consistency for nasal function as an aesthetic postoperative outcome. The Spearman rank correlation analysis indicated a weak to moderate correlation between the different items, indicating that the different items measure somewhat distinct aspects of nasal function and appearance. However, the high Cronbach’s alpha values suggested that the different items measure similar aspects of nasal function and appearance and can be considered a reliable scale for assessing SCHNOSE.The results of the paired samples t-test showed significant differences between the preoperative and postoperative obstructive and aesthetic SCHNOSE scores, indicating that the observed differences are likely to be real and not simply due to random variation in the data. ConclusionThe Kurdish form of the SCHNOS demonstrates virtuous reliability and validity, coherent with the original version. Thus, it can be used as a validated questionnaire for outcome measurements for rhinoplasty. This version should be recommended to evaluate both functional and cosmetic outcomes in daily practice and rhinoplasty-related examinations.