Translation, reliability, and validity of Amharic versions of the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI-20) and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire (PFIQ-7)

Tadesse Belayneh Melkie; Zelalem Mengistu Gashaw; Zelalem Ayichew Workineh; Tamiru Minwuye Andargie; Tibeb Zena Debele; Solomon Gedlu Nigatu

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0270434

Translation, reliability, and validity of Amharic versions of the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI-20) and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire (PFIQ-7)

PLoS One. 2022 Nov 17;17(11):e0270434. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270434. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Tadesse Belayneh Melkie¹, Zelalem Mengistu Gashaw², Zelalem Ayichew Workineh², Tamiru Minwuye Andargie², Tibeb Zena Debele³, Solomon Gedlu Nigatu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesia, School of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gonda, Ethiopia.
² Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Science, University of Gondar, Gonda, Ethiopia.
³ Department of Clinical Midwifery, School of Midwifery, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gonda, Ethiopia.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gonda, Ethiopia.

Abstract

Purpose: Pelvic Floor Disorders (PFDs) affects many women and have a significant impact on their quality of life. Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire (PFIQ-7) and Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI-20) help to assess PFDs; however, both are not culturally translated into the Amharic-language. Hence, we aimed to translate the English versions of short forms of the PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7 into Amharic-language and evaluate their psychometric properties in Amharic-speaking Ethiopian women with symptomatic PFDs.

Methods: The PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7 were translated into Amharic language using standard procedures. The Amharic versions were completed by 197 patients (response rate 92%) with PFDs from University of Gondar specialized and comprehensive Hospital. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were examined through Cronbach's alpha and Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). A relative criterion standard, POP-SS-7 score, was correlated with total PFDI-20 and subscale POPDI-6 scores using spearman's rank order correlation (SCC). Construct validity was evaluated by known group validity using the Mann-Whitney U test.

Results: Both instruments were successfully translated and adapted with an excellent content validity (> 0.90). The Amharic versions of the PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7 showed excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability in both summary and subscales (Cronbach's alpha: 0.92 for PFDI-20 and 0.91 for PFIQ-7; and ICC: 0.97 for PFDI-20 and 0.86 for PFIQ-7). Criterion validity was good for POPDI-6 (SCC = 0.71; p < 0.001). Moreover, construct validity was acceptable, showing significant differences among groups of PFDs in the PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7 scores (Mann-Whitney U Test; p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The Amharic versions of the PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7 are comprehensible, reliable, valid, and feasible in Ethiopian Amharic-speaking women with PFDs to evaluate symptoms and its impact during research and clinical practice. However, further studies are needed to evaluate the responsiveness.

Copyright: © 2022 Melkie et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Female
Humans
Language
Pelvic Floor Disorders* / diagnosis
Pelvic Floor*
Quality of Life
Reproducibility of Results
Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a grant, R.No: V/P/RCS/05/540/2020, from the University of Gondar. The University was not involved in the design, conduct, analysis or interpretation of the study, or the review or approval of the manuscript.