53 The Otology Questionnaire Amsterdam: a generic patient reported outcome measure about the severity and impact of ear complaints 3 Study results Phase 1: formulation and selection of items A. Interviews. Eight relevant types of ear complaints were identified: earache, pressure in ear, hearing loss, tinnitus, otorrhoea, itch, dizziness and loss of taste. In addition, several descriptions of these ear complaints were collected. Based on these data, 34 multiple-choice items were formulated in OQUA-v1. B. Pilot study 1. The results of pilot study 1 showed that patients experienced multiple ear complaints simultaneously (Chart 2). Based on the 34 selected descriptions, 34 items were formulated in OQUA-v2. C. Expert opinion. The expert panel provided feedback on OQUA-v2 and this resulted in the addition of 16 items. For example, an item about loss of taste was added because the expert panel stated this is an important side-effect of ear surgery. D. Pilot study 2. The results of pilot study 2 confirmed that patients experienced multiple ear complaints simultaneously (Chart 2). Based on think-aloud interviews, some items were reformulated. The 50 items of OQUA-v4 are listed in Table 2. Chart 2. Percentage of experienced ear complaints in the various phases of the study. Each bar represents an ear complaint as a percentage of the total number of patients in that study. Patients had the ability to tick multiple complaints. The total percentage in each phase is above 100, which shows that multiple patients experienced multiple ear complaints simultaneously
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