Page 42 - Portuguese Journal - SPORL - Vol 61. Nº1

adaptation and translation of the original done Pearson’s correlation coefficient. (Table
English study tool. The parents of the children 4). The reliability coefficient was adequate at
filled the questionnaire without any trouble, in ƴ = 0.9.
a short time (4.5 ± 1.8 min).
Validity: The comparison between the first
Demographic results: The first group included group (control group) and the second group
the patients who underwent tonsillectomy or (intervention group, before the operation) was
adenotonsillectomy - 51 patients, while the performed, using the Mann-Whitney U test. It
control group included 49 children. The final showed a significant difference between the
number of participants was 100 children. 2 groups: the total score in the first group was
(Table 2) 3.490 ±3.150 (0-18); in the second group was
25.628 ±12.955 (4-58). (P-value <0.001) (Table 5).
Internal consistency and reliability: The
internal consistency was tested by Cronbach’s Responsiveness: The differences in the mean
correlation coefficient. α was 0.946 for the total values before and after the intervention was
score. Item-to-item correlation was done using done by Wilcoxon signed ranks test. Before
Spearman’s correlation test (Table 3) while the the intervention, the total score was 25.628
subscale score to total score correlation was ±12.955 (4-58), while after the operation, the

Table 2
Comparision of age and sex between the studied groups

Variables Control group (49 child) Intervention group (51 child)
Age in years 6.00±2.96 6.06±3
Males 27 25
Females 22 26

Table 3
Item by item correlation matrix of tonsil and adenoids health status instrument (TAHSI). Tested by
cronbach’s correlation coefficient

Item 2 Item 3 Item 4 Item 5 Item 6 Item 7 Item 8 Item 9 Item 10 Item 11 Item 12 Item 13 Item 14 Item 15
1.Sno .442** .540** .452** .519** .438** .752** .506** .486** .537** .681** .222* .465** .292** .249*
2.Strep .841** .754** .642** .683** .505** .777** .775** .701** .509** .378** .367** .390** .204*
3.Trip .843** .775** .830** .570** .908** .909** .820** .561** .453** .400** .480** 0.188
4.>3w .836** .792** .578** .853** .856** .674** .539** .484** .510** .422** .234*
5.<2w .716** .594** .747** .751** .625** .506** .401** .432** .473** .202*
6.Call .484** .813** .811** .781** .519** .492** .440** .470** 0.111
7.Apn .578** .561** .600** .709** .408** .570** .403** .308**
8.Acu .950** .806** .582** .485** .454** .435** .225*
9.Chr .783** .521** .502** .456** .440** .257**
10.Cost .576** .425** .457** .443** 0.107
11.Mou .408** .514** .372** .205*
12.Grow .286** .591** 0.097
13.Nois .231* 0.182
14.Eat 0.124
15.Beha
** Significant correlation at the 0.01 level (bilateral).
* Significant correlation at the 0.05 level (bilateral).
1. Sno - item 1, snoring loudly; 2. Strep-item 2, streptococcal/bacterial throat infections; 3. Trip-item 3, physician trips; 4.>3w-item 4, taking
antibiotics for more than 3 weeks straight; 5.-2w - item 5, taking antibiotics over and over for less than 2 weeks; 6. Call-item 6, many phone
calls to doctor; 7. Apn-item 7, apnoea; 8. Acu-item 8, repeated acute infections of the tonsils; 9. Chr-item 9, constant chronic infections of
the tonsils; 10. Cost-item 10, cost of medical care and prescriptions; 11. Mou-item 5, mouth breathing; 12. Grow - nor growing or gaining
weight; 13. Nois - item 13, noisy breathing; 14. Eat-item 6, poor appetite or poor eating habits 15. Beha-behavior problems.

42 Portuguese Journal of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery