Validation of the pelvic floor inventories Leiden (PelFIs) in English

Department of Medical Decision Making, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The NetherlandsAims: To evaluate the validity and reliability of the English translation of an interviewer-administered pelvic floorquestionnaire, the ‘‘Pelvic Floor Inventories Leiden’’ (PeLFIs) for women, which addresses complaints of prolapse,bladder, and bowel dysfunction, pelvic floor pain and/or sexual dysfunction related to pelvic floor dysfunction.Methods: The formal forward–backward translation of the PeLFIs was performed by bilingual Dutch/Englishtranslators. The final English version was administered to healthy volunteers (N¼94) and patients (N¼180) inCanada and the United States. Psychometric properties of the English version were examined, including internalconsistency, test–retest reliability, content, and construct validity. Internal consistency was measured usingCronbach’s alpha. Test–retest reliability was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficients. Construct validity wasestablished by comparing scores in healthy volunteers and patients (using t-tests) and by intercorrelating domains.Results: The forward–backward translation of the English version of the PeLFIs was consistent with the originalDutch questionnaire. In total, 274 questionnaires were administered. The retest was administered 2 weeks after theinitial PeLFIs interview. Internal consistency of the questionnaire was 0.88 for the total scale. Cronbach’s alpha ofthe domains ranged from 0.71 to 0.95. For the test–retest reliability, the agreement rate between the two testsexceeded 95% and the intraclass correlation ranged from 0.6 to 0.8. The differences between healthy volunteers andpatients were statistically significant for all domains, but did not exceed the minimal important difference for somedomains. Correlations between the domains were moderate to high. Conclusions: The PeLFIs questionnaire hasbeen translated successfully into English and in its evaluation has shown adequate internal consistency andreliability. Neurourol. Urodynam. 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Key words: bladder dysfunction; bowel dysfunction; pelvic floor; prolapse; questionnaire; sexual dysfunction;validation