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Background: Patient-reported outcome measures are largely used in clinical practice and scientific community. Michigan hand questionnaire (MHQ) is widely recognized as a standardized reliable instrument for the assessment of any kind of hand disorders. Aim of the study: translation, cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Italian version of MHQ.

Methods: The study was composed by two phases. Phase 1 consisted in translation and cross-cultural adaptation of MHQ, from original language version (English) into Italian, according to the standard procedure of translation and back translation. The final Italian version of MHQ was tested on 136 Italian patients with hand disorders (Phase 2), in addition to Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) questionnaire, Visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain assessment and grip strength, to psychometric properties of the new version, 55 patients repeated the questionnaire after 7 days for test-retest to assess the reproducibility of the questionnaire. All data were subsequently analyzed (descriptive statistics, multitrait analysis, reliability and construct validity assessment).

Results: Phase 1 was performed without major problems, thus the final Italian version was approved for Phase 2. The questionnaire was clear and easily understood (missing data 0–2.9%). Multitrait analysis brought very good results for each outcome measure. High reliability (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.91–0.99) and very good reproducibility (Intraclass correlation coefficients: 0.83–0.98) were revealed. High to moderate correlation was found between MHQ and DASH, grip strength and VAS.

Conclusions: The Italian version of MHQ has demonstrated to be reliable and valid.

Background: The Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire (MHQ) was designed in 1998 by Chung and colleagues at the University of Michigan in 1998. It is a hand-specific patient-rated outcome (PRO) instrument used to measure patients’ outcome with conditions of, or injury to, the hand and/or wrist. This study is aimed at translating and cross-culturally adapting the MHQ into Bahasa Melayu (BM), examining the validity and reliability of the MHQ-BM version for our local population to be used as a patient-rated outcome measurement in Malaysian patients with hand injuries.

Methods: This study was performed in two phases. Phase 1 involved the translation of the MHQ into BM using Beaton Protocol. In Phase 2, we administered the final version of the MHQ–BM in patients with hand and/or wrist injuries to test its stability (n = 50) and validity (n = 185).

Results: The MHQ–BM showed good content and face validity. Cronbach α totalled 0.821 for the MHQ–BM. The Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) of the test–retest reliability for the six domains ranged from 0.960 to 0.984 with excellent correlation (ICC = 0.984) for the total score. The BM version of MHQ–BM showed excellent test–retest reliability.

Conclusions: The MHQ–BM is well-translated and culturally well-adapted to maintain the reliability and content validity of the instrument (MHQ) at a conceptual level across Malaysia. We found the application and evaluation of the instrument to be feasible and understandable among patients with hand and/or wrist injuries in Malaysia.