title: Quality of life in multiple sclerosis patients with urinary disorders: discriminative validation of the English version of Qualiveen.
abstract: The Qualiveen questionnaire is a urinary disorder (UD)-specific health related quality of life (HRQL) instrument. Recent data suggests Qualiveen has excellent validity in French-speaking multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess discriminative measurement properties of the English version of Qualiveen.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-five Canadian MS out-patients completed a set of questionnaires, including Qualiveen, MSQOL-54, a MS-specific HRQL questionnaire, urinary function assessments and the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) twice at an interval of two to four weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Qualiveen proved internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha coefficients 0.73 to 0.90 for the four Qualiveen domains) and test-retest reliable (intraclass correlation coefficients 0.88 to 0.94). Consistent with a priori predictions, we found a strong association between overall Qualiveen score and the degree of incontinence (0.63), a moderate correlation with the type of urinary symptoms (0.49), a weak association with manner of voiding (0.28) and weak or absent correlations with MSQOL-54 domains, EDSS bladder/bowel and global EDSS. Predictions proved generally accurate (weighted kappa = 0.65).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The internal consistency, test-retest reliability and cross-sectional construct validity of the English version of Qualiveen are excellent, and similar to the original French version. Further studies should explore Qualiveen's longitudinal validity and responsiveness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. vbonniaud@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bonniaud
authors.forename: Dianne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jackowski
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Parratte
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Paulseth
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grad
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Margetts
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guyatt
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D001750:Urinary Bladder, Neurogenic / Q000150:complications*