The Development of the Dizziness Handicap Inventory

TLDR

Conventional vestibulometric techniques are inadequate for quantifying the impact of dizziness on everyday life. The 25‑item Dizziness Handicap Inventory was created to evaluate patients’ self‑perceived handicapping effects of vestibular disease. The inventory was developed from an initial 37‑item pool to a final 25‑item version, with items grouped into functional, emotional, and physical domains and assessed for reliability using Cronbach’s alpha. In a sample of 106 patients, the final DHI showed good internal consistency and high test‑retest reliability, and, except for the physical subscale, scores rose significantly with increasing dizziness frequency.

Abstract

Conventional vestibulometric techniques are inadequate for quantifying the impact of dizziness on everyday life. The 25-item Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) was developed to evaluate the self-perceived handicapping effects imposed by vestibular system disease. The development of the preliminary (37 items) and final versions (25 items) of the DHI are described. The items were subgrouped into three content domains representing functional, emotional, and physical aspects of dizziness and unsteadiness. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was employed to measure reliability based on consistency of the preliminary version. The final version of the DHI was administered to 106 consecutive patients and demonstrated good internal consistency reliability. With the exception of the physical subscale, the mean values for DHI scale scores increased significantly with increases in the frequency of dizziness episodes. Test-retest reliability was high.