Validation of the Spanish-language version of the Prolapse Quality of Life Questionnaire in Chilean women

Introduction and hypothesis: The Prolapse Quality of Life (P-QOL) questionnaire is a specific health-related quality of life (HRQL) instrument to assess the impact of POP on women. It has been validated in English-speaking women and to date has been translated into several other languages. However, currently there is no Spanish translation of the P-QOL questionnaire. The aim of this study was to translate the P-QOL questionnaire into Spanish and to assess its feasibility, validity, and reliability.

Methods: Following a forward- and back-translation of the original English P-QOL questionnaire into Spanish language, the translated questionnaire was reviewed by a group of patients as well as an expert panel to assess its comprehensibility. In this cross-sectional study women with POP symptoms were recruited from a tertiary referral teaching hospital. Women were defined as symptomatic if they report feeling a lump/bulge/pressure in the vagina. The Spanish translated P-QOL questionnaire was self-administered to all women. Reliability, content, and construct validity were evaluated using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, ANOVA, and Spearman’s correlation tests.

Results: One hundred and twenty-eight women were studied. There were no missing items. The Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.626 to 0.866 across domains, demonstrating the good reliability of the Spanish P-QOL. The severity of symptoms was related to the worst quality of life, but the severity of POP was not related to poorer QoL.

Conclusions: The Spanish translated version of the P-QOL is a reliable, consistent and valid instrument to assess symptom severity and QoL impact in Chilean women with POP.