title: Turkish version of the Ureteral Stent Symptoms Questionnaire: linguistic and psychometric validation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ureteric stents are frequently used in urology practice and can cause significant impairment in quality of life (QoL). The aim of this study was to validate the Ureteral Stent Symptoms Questionnaire (USSQ) to be used in the evaluation of stent-related symptoms and impairment in QoL in Turkish-speaking patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  After linguistic validation of the original USSQ into Turkish language, the Turkish version of the USSQ (T-USSQ) was self-administered to all participants at week 1 and 4 after stent placement for test-retest reliability and internal consistency and at week 8 (4 weeks after stent removal) for sensitivity to change analysis. Control patients completed the form only once. Additionally male and female patients completed the validated Turkish versions of International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and Marmara Overactive Bladder (mOAB) Symptom Scores, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 68 patients with ureteral stents and 37 controls were available for the final analysis. The Cronbach's alpha value was higher than 0.7 at week 1 for all sub-domains except additional problems domain. The test-retest reliability of the T-USSQ was high for all sub-domains except the additional problems domain. Relatively high correlation coefficients were found for the visual analog scale for pain, IPSS (for males), mOAB score (for females) with the corresponding USSQ domains, suggesting good convergent validity. Also the T-USSQ could effectively differentiate between patients and controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The T-USSQ is a reliable and robust instrument that can be self-administered to patients of Turkish population with ureteral stent in the clinical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Marmara University School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey. yiloren@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Yiloren
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanidir
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Naside
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mangir
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Marmara University School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sahan
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Marmara University School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Muhammed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sulukaya
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D015607:Stents; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014177:Translations; D014421:Turkey; D014517:Ureteral Obstruction / Q000601:surgery*; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods
keywords: Questionnaire; Symptom score; Ureteral stent; Validation