Translation and cultural adaptation of SF Qualiveen questionnaire in Greek

Most of neurologically impaired persons, who are suffering from spinal cord injury (SCI) or multiple sclerosis (MS), may face important lifestyle restrictions. Urinary disorders can further decrease their quality of life (QoL). SF Qualiveen is a validated questionnaire for the evaluation of QoL in this population related to neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD).

The cross-cultural adaptation, the reliability check, and the validation of the SF Qualiveen in Greek.

The design of this study was the observational cohort study.

Between November 2019 and May 2020, we addressed to 136 consecutive neurologic patients with MS or SCI from the outpatient clinic of the Unit of Neuro-urology of the National Rehabilitation Center in Athens.

The study was based on 124 patients (68 males and 56 females). There were 55 paraplegics, 16 tetraplegics and 53 MS patients.

After a back forward translation of the SF Qualiveen between English and Greek, the patients completed the Greek version of SF Qualiveen and King's Health Questionnaire at baseline and 3 months later. Reliability check and validation were performed by factor analysis with the Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) method. Demographic data were collected as well.

The Greek version of the questionnaire showed good internal consistency with Cronbach's α >70 for the total score and most of the four sub-scales for the test and retest. Test-retest reliability showed that all domains of the SF-Qualiveen (test) were correlated with the SF-Qualiveen total score (test) and the same applies to the SF-Qualiveen (retest). Domains of SF-Qualiveen (test) were poorly correlated with the domains of SF-Qualiveen (retest). Construct and criterion validity were satisfactory and CFA found that the model had good fit [χ2 (14)=19.133, GFI=0.964, NFI=0.954, RMSEA=0.055, CFI=0.987].

This Greek version of the SF Qualiveen was tested following well-established guidelines on measurement properties and showed good validity and reliability. It is reproducible, reliable, and valid for the Greek population.

This Greek version of the SF Qualiveen can be used as a tool to evaluate the impact of NLUTD on QoL in Greek-speaking patients with MS and SCI in research and clinical practice.