title: Validation of an instrument to assess barriers to care-seeking for accidental bowel leakage in women: the BCABL questionnaire.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Fewer than 30% of women with accidental bowel leakage (ABL) seek care, despite the existence of effective, minimally invasive therapies. We developed and validated a condition-specific instrument to assess barriers to care-seeking for ABL in women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adult women with ABL completed an electronic survey about condition severity, patient activation, previous care-seeking, and demographics. The Barriers to Care-seeking for Accidental Bowel Leakage (BCABL) instrument contained 42 potential items completed at baseline and again 2 weeks later. Paired t tests evaluated test-retest reliability. Factor analysis evaluated factor structure and guided item retention. Cronbach's alpha evaluated internal consistency. Within and across factor item means generated a summary BCABL score used to evaluate scale validity with six external criterion measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 1,677 click-throughs, 736 (44%) entered the survey; 95% of eligible female respondents (427 out of 458) provided complete data. Fifty-three percent of respondents had previously sought care for their ABL; median age was 62 years (range 27-89); mean Vaizey score was 12.8 (SD = 5.0), indicating moderate to severe ABL. Test-retest reliability was excellent for all items. Factor extraction via oblique rotation resulted in the final structure of 16 items in six domains, within which internal consistency was high. All six external criterion measures correlated significantly with BCABL score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The BCABL questionnaire, with 16 items mapping to six domains, has excellent criterion validity and test-retest reliability when administered electronically in women with ABL. The BCABL can be used to identify care-seeking barriers for ABL in different populations, inform targeted interventions, and measure their effectiveness.
authors.affiliation: Department of OB/GYN, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, 600 Highland Avenue, Box 6188, Madison, WI, 53792, USA. Hwbrown2@wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Heidi Wendell
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Sonderegger Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy, Madison, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Meg E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Wise
authors.affiliation: Department of OB/GYN, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, 600 Highland Avenue, Box 6188, Madison, WI, 53792, USA.
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Westenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of OB/GYN, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, 600 Highland Avenue, Box 6188, Madison, WI, 53792, USA.
authors.forename: Nicholas B
authors.initials: NB
authors.lastname: Schmuhl
authors.affiliation: Healthy Mature Living Foundation, PO Box 1100, Los Gatos, CA, 95030, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly Lewis
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Brezoczky
authors.affiliation: Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Policy & Management at UMN, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Melissa L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Constantine
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005242:Fecal Incontinence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*
keywords: Accidental bowel leakage; Barriers; Care-seeking; Fecal incontinence; Help-seeking; Validation