Translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of the Standardized Cosmesis and Health Nasal Outcomes Survey in Japanese (J-SCHNOS).

Background: Rhinoplasty is one of the most popular plastic surgery techniques. The evaluation of both functional and cosmetic aspects of rhinoplasty is essential for planning and assessing surgery results. The Standardized Cosmesis and Health Nasal Outcomes Survey (SCHNOS) is a validated questionnaire used to assess both functional and aesthetic symptoms in patients with nasal problems, and it has been translated into several languages. The purpose of this study was to translate, culturally adapt, and validate the SCHNOS in Japanese among patients undergoing rhinoplasty.

Methods: This was a prospective validation study of the Japanese version of the SCHNOS (J-SCHNOS). The first phase involved translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the SCHNOS. The second phase included validation of the J-SCHNOS among native Japanese speakers.

Results: In total, 357 participants completed the final version of the J-SCHNOS (219 males and 138 females; mean age 43.4 years). The J-SCHNOS showed high internal consistency with excellent Cronbach's alpha values for both obstruction (SCHNOS-O) (0.96) and cosmetic (SCHNOS-C) (0.93) domains. The reproducibility was high, with an excellent intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) >0.9 for all items. Exploratory factor analysis showed unidimensional structures in both the SCHNOS-O and the SCHNOS-C.

Conclusion: The J-SCHNOS is a reliable and valid tool to assess the severity of nasal problems in patients undergoing rhinoplasty.