Background: The psychometric properties of the newly developed Pelvic Pain Psychological Screening Questionnaire (3PSQ) need to be established. This study aimed to evaluate the content validity (relevance, comprehensibility, and comprehensiveness) of the 3PSQ in people with persistent pelvic pain. Methods: Participants completed the 3PSQ via an online survey and answered questions regarding the relevance and comprehensibility of each item and the comprehensiveness of the overall questionnaire. Quantitative data from dichotomous content validity answers and demographics were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative data regarding the relevance, comprehensibility, and comprehensiveness were analyzed by an expert panel using conventional content analysis. Results: A total of 146 people (114 women and 32 men) participated. Participants reported high comprehensibility scores for the 3PSQ introduction (97.8%), instructions (96.9%), and response options (98.7%). More than 80% of participants agreed that 12 out of 15 items of the 3PSQ were relevant and that all items were comprehensible. Comprehensiveness of the entire questionnaire yielded a lower agreement percentage of 36.7%, with qualitative feedback from participants suggesting capturing the impact of their pain on work, relationships, and not feeling heard by medical professionals. However, based on the expert panel review, these are not psychological factors and, therefore, outside the scope of the 3PSQ. Rewording changes to the 3PSQ were implemented from this review. Discussion: The 3PSQ has been validated by people with persistent pelvic pain as being relevant, easily understood, and including all psychological factors pertinent to this population.
Hart et al. (Thu,) studied this question.