Completion of a validated pelvic floor symptom and bother instrument in real-life practice

Validated questionnaires are commonly used in research, but successful completion rates in clinical settings are largely unknown. The primary goal of this study was to assess the frequency of appropriate completion of a validated research survey. We secondarily examined relationships between demographics and successful questionnaire completion.

New patients completed a paper form of the Pelvic Floor Bother Questionnaire (PFBQ) to assess pelvic floor symptoms and level of bother. Various aspects of successful survey completion were assessed, including unanswered questions, affirmative responses without selection of a level of bother, or choosing a level of bother despite reporting not having a symptom. Relationships between self-reported demographic characteristics and completion of the survey were also evaluated.

Five hundred and fourteen questionnaires were completed by a cohort of women with a mean age of 57.5 ± 14.4 years (range 19-97). Overall, 45.3% of women (n = 233) completed the entire PFBQ properly as originally described. Women skipped at least one entire question 16.5% of the time. On logistic regression, older age was significantly associated with improper questionnaire completion (55.0 years ±14.9 successful vs 59.6 years ±13.6 unsuccessful completion, p < 0.001 for overall completion). Age was significantly associated with proper completion of every individual PFBQ question, except question 8 concerning fecal incontinence (p = 0.06). Education level was not significantly associated with successful questionnaire completion.

Overall successful completion of the survey as designed and validated was low, even in a highly educated population. Ways to simplify the instrument to enhance completion, such as electronic smart questionnaires, should be further investigated.