Validity and reliability of the Persian version of the PRAFAB questionnaire in Iranian women with urinary incontinence

Introduction and hypothesis: Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common disorder in women that can affect a person's quality of life. There are several instruments to assess the severity of urinary incontinence. One of the common tools is the Protection, Amount, Frequency, Adjustment, Body image (PRAFAB) questionnaire. Therefore, this study was performed with the aim of assessing the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the PRAFAB questionnaire.

Methods: First, the English version of the questionnaire was translated into Persian. Second, the psychometric properties of the Persian version were collected in 60 women with urinary incontinence referred to Al-Zahra Hospital by an expert team. Content validity (CV) was evaluated through CV index (CVI) and CV ratio (CVR). Construct validity was evaluated using exploratory factor analysis and reproducibility was tested based on test-retest reliability using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach's α.

Results: The results showed acceptable CVI in relevancy, clarity, and simplicity, acceptable CVR for all items, good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.738) and excellent repeatability (ICC = 0.98).

Conclusion: The Persian version of the PRAFAB questionnaire has acceptable validity and reliability and in future it can be used as a suitable evaluation instrument to assess urinary incontinence in Iranian women.