Cultural adaptation and validation of the French version of the Antwerp pelvic floor knowledge questionnaire

The Antwerp Pelvic Floor Knowledge Questionnaire (APFK-Q) is a self-administered tool used for assessing women's knowledge of the pelvic floor, an essential element of pelvic health education initiatives. The aim of this study was to validate the French version of the APFK-Q and to assess its psychometric properties.

Acceptability of the cultural adaptation of APFK-Q in French (translation/back-translation) was assessed in two groups of women: one group not working in the healthcare sector (non-healthworkers, n = 112), and another of student midwives (n = 29). Twenty-three of the non-healthworkers agreed to take part in a test-retest step to assess reproducibility. Agreement of responses was measured for each question using Cohen's kappa coefficient. Sensitivity to change was assessed before and after a pelvic-floor health education workshop. The proportion of correct answers was compared before and after the workshop using McNemar's Chi2 test. Readability and the reading level required for optimal comprehension were assessed using the Flesch Reading Ease Score (FRES) and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level test, respectively.

Seventy percent (n = 72) of the non-healthworkers and 72 % (n = 21) of the students reported no comprehension difficulties. Agreement was very good (k > 0.8) for 46 % of the items and good (0.6-0.8) for 25 %. The proportion of correct answers was significantly higher for 72 % of the items after the pelvic-floor health education workshop. The French version of the APFK-Q was judged to be easy to understand according to the FRES test, with a score of 60.6. The school level required for optimal comprehension was estimated at 8th grade.

The French version of the APFK-Q is an acceptable, reproducible, and easily understandable questionnaire that provides a broad description of women's knowledge of the pelvic-floor sphere. Sensitivity to change was confirmed for most items, making it a useful tool for assessing the impact of pelvic-floor health education initiatives.