Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Portuguese Version of the “Australian Pelvic Floor Questionnaire”

TL;DR

This study adapts and validates a questionnaire about pelvic floor dysfunction for use in Portuguese, ensuring it works well in clinical and research settings.

Contribution

The paper provides a validated Portuguese version of the Australian Pelvic Floor Questionnaire for assessing pelvic floor dysfunction.

Findings

The Portuguese version of the APFQ showed high internal consistency across four domains.

The questionnaire demonstrated strong reproducibility with intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from 0.934 to 0.976.

The adapted questionnaire is suitable for clinical and research use in Portuguese-speaking populations.

Abstract

Pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) is a common problem that occurs among women and increases with age and weight. This study was aimed at cross-culturally adapting and validating the original version of the Australian Pelvic Floor Questionnaire (APFQ) into Portuguese.

The process of cultural and linguistic adaptation and validation followed the guidelines. The obtained Portuguese version was assessed by an expert panel of physiotherapists specialized in women’s health. Women with pelvic floor dysfunction also participated in a cognitive pre-test (n = 9). A sample of 50 women with PFD completed the questionnaire to evaluate internal consistency, construct validity, reproducibility, floor/ceiling effects assessment, and standard error of measurement. Test–retest was assessed with a 2-week interval. The study was approved by the Ethics Commission and all participants signed an informed consent form.

Fifty women with a mean age of 53.90 (± 18.57) years, BMI of 27.5 (± 4.2), 55.6% with a bachelor’s degree, and all with at least one child, participated in the study. The psychometric properties of the APFQ showed a high Cronbach’s alpha for the four domains: bladder (0.837), bowel and sexual function (0.756), pelvic organ prolapse (0.840), and total score (0.714). In terms of reproducibility, intraclass coefficient domain values ranged from 0.934 to 0.976, with a total score of 0.948.

The APFQ was cultural and linguistically adapted and validated for Portuguese. The Portuguese version of the APFQ (APFQ_P) showed acceptable values of validity and good reliability. It can be used in both clinical evaluation and in research on pelvic floor dysfunction.