The validity and reliability of the Arabic version of the short form of neurogenic bladder symptoms score in patients with spinal cord injury

BACKGROUND: The Neurogenic Bladder Symptom Score-Short Form (NBSS-SF) evaluates the impact of disease-specific symptoms on the quality of life in individuals with neurogenic bladder (NB). There is no data on the validity and reliability of the NBSS-SF questionnaire in the Arabic language, so this study aimed to examine the psychometric characteristics of the Arabic NBSS-SF in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). METHODS: International standards were followed when culturally adapting the questionnaire. The Arabic version was conducted in patients with neurogenic bladder caused by SCI twice within a 14 day period. Psychometric properties such as content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability were tested. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha, and the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), respectively. Construct validity was assessed by comparing the NBSS-SF with the Short Form (SF-12) and the Qualiveen questionnaire. RESULTS: One hundred and one patients with SCI participated in the study. The internal consistency for the overall NBSS-SF score (Cronbach's α of 0.82) and for each subdomain was variable (urinary incontinence 0.84; storage/voiding 0.72; consequences 0.57). ICC was 0.91 for the overall score and 0.94 for the urinary incontinence subdomain, 0.72 for storage/voiding, and 0.90 for consequences. The correlation analysis showed that the Arabic version of NBSS-SF has good construct validity. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that the Arabic version of NBSS-SF is a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating NB symptoms in the Arabic population suffering from SCI.