title: Quality of life in spinal cord injury patients with urinary difficulties. Development and validation of qualiveen.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality of life (QoL) may be severely affected in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and resulting urinary difficulties (UD). There is, however, a need for instruments capable of measuring QoL in these patients. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire suitable for use in SCI patients with urinary disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  Following patient interviews, a questionnaire was developed in French that was subjected to item reduction and cross-sectional validation. The resulting Qualiveen (Qualiveen is a pending registration trade mark of Coloplast A/S, DK-3050 Humlebaek, Denmark) questionnaire underwent multi-trait and principal component analysis and the test-retest reliability of the questionnaire was examined in stable patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patient interviews identified 257 concepts relevant to SCI patients with urinary disorders. Item reduction led to a 30-item questionnaire, which was psychometrically validated in 281 SCI patients with UD. The median age of patients was 41 years, 78% were male and the majority were paraplegic (55%). The construct and clinical validity of the Qualiveen was confirmed, as well as its reliability in patients whose condition was stable over a 15-day period. Patients confirmed that it was easy to understand, complete and comprehensive.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Qualiveen is a reliable and psychometrically validated instrument that may be used to measure the QoL of SCI patients with UD.
authors.affiliation: Hôpital Gaston-Doumergue, Nîmes, France. pierre.costa@chu-nimes.fr
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Perrouin-Verbe
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Colvez
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Didier
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marquis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marrel
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Amarenco
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Espirac
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leriche
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000209:etiology*