DEVELOPMENT OF PELVIC FLOOR HEALTH KNOWLEDGE QUIZ: VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

Purpose: Although pelvic floor dysfunctions encompass a wide variety of interrelated clinical conditions, the tools that question individuals' knowledge level related to these problems are not comprehensive and sufficient. This study aimed to develop Pelvic Floor Health Knowledge Quiz (PFHKQ) and to determine its validity and reliability. Methods: A 37-item quiz was prepared to measure the knowledge of pelvic floor health and administered in 370 participants (273 females, 97 males). Face validity, content validity, construct validity, and known-group validity were analyzed for validity. The Person Separation Index (PSI) and the Kuder-Richardson-20 (KR-20) coefficient values were calculated for reliability. Results: The face validity analysis showed that all items of the test were quite understandable (range 83.02%-98.11%). According to the Rasch model, a knowledge quiz with three subscales (function/dysfunction; risk/etiology; diagnosis and treatment) and 29 items were defined. Individuals who were health professionals or students in the health field had more PFHKQ scores compared to the other participants (p<0.05). There were significant differences between the participants' knowledge scores in terms of previously having heard of any pelvic floor problems and pelvic floor exercises (PFE) (p<0.05). The PSI and the KR-20 values were 0.892 and 0.890 for the function/dysfunction subscale, 0.938 and 0.920 for the risk/etiology subscale, 0.912 and 0.924 for the diagnosis and treatment subscale, and 0.952 and 0.926 for the PFHKQ total score, respectively. Conclusion: In the Turkish people, the PFHKQ was found to be a valid and reliable tool.