Turkish Validation and Reliability Analysis of the International Female Coital Incontinence Questionnaire

Coital incontinence (CI) is an important problem that negatively affects women's quality of life and is often underreported owing to embarrassment, indicating the importance of its assessment with validated questionnaires. The aim of this study was to validate the Turkish-translated version of the International Female Coital Incontinence Questionnaire (IFCI-Q) for the objective evaluation of women with CI in Turkish-speaking populations.

Ninety women with CI filled out the Turkish-translated version of IFCI-Q. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Cronbach's alpha, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were evaluated for the construct validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability, respectively. Known group validity, which is the ability of the scale to reveal the expected difference according to patients' demographics and PISQ-12 scores, was evaluated.

The construct validity was confirmed after excluding the first and third items of the questionnaire (CFI 0.966, TLI 0.944). The first item was excluded from the CFA as all women who completed the IFCI-Q had CI and therefore answered this item questioning the existence of CI as "yes." The third item was eliminated because its factor loading was below 0.20. Cronbach's alpha value for the scale was 0.67. ICC was calculated as 0.97 (0.95-0.98; p < 0.001), indicating a strong positive agreement between the test scores at two time points 2 weeks apart.

The Turkish version of IFCI-Q seems to be a reliable, consistent, and valid instrument in the screening and assessment of CI in a gynecology outpatient clinic-based cohort of Turkish-speaking women.