title: Quality of life of multiple sclerosis patients: translation and validation of the Spanish version of Qualiveen.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Up until now there were no specific questionnaire translated into Spanish for evaluating urinary disorder specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Qualiveen is recommended by the European Association of Urology guidelines as a tool for evaluating neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction. The objective was to translate the Qualiveen into Spanish, adapt it cross-culturally and validate it against the currently available tools.
  
  
  METHODS
  A bidirectional translation of Qualiveen was undertaken by professional translators. One hundred two Spanish MS patients were sent the Qualiveen and the ICIQ-SF questionnaires twice within a month. The questionnaires were sent and received by mail and reviewed when the patients came for the scheduled visit.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-one patients participated. The validation study showed that the Spanish version of Qualiveen has good internal consistency with Cronbach's coefficient superior to 0.80 for all the questionnaire's subdomains and also for the entire Qualiveen demonstrating high discriminative power. Also the test-retest analysis proved internal stability of the Qualiveen (kappa coefficient between 0.81 and 0.89). Finally, all the Qualiveen scores correlated with the ICIQ-SF final score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Spanish version of Qualiveen functions similarly to the English language version retaining its discriminating power. It has shown it could be a valid instrument for discriminating between patients in a cross-sectional survey, as well as for measuring within subject changes over time thus evaluating the extent to which MS patients' HRQoL is impaired by urinary-related problems.
authors.affiliation: Urology Department, Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. alexciudin@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Alexandru
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ciudin
authors.forename: Agustin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.forename: Mihai Gabriel
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Diaconu
authors.forename: Lluis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peri
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vivas
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alcaraz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications*; D011788:Quality of Life; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014177:Translations; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000150:complications*