Journal of Hepatology and Gastrointestinal disorders
Open Access

Abstract

Psychometric Properties of the Irritable Bowel Syndrome Quality of Life Scale in Turkey

Uran BNO, Karadakovan A, Vardar R and Bor S

Background: Irritable bowel disease is a chronic disease which characterized by abdominal pain and discomfort along with changes in bowel habits. As in other chronic diseases, there is also a need for a scale that can be used by the members of the medical team to determine the quality of life of the patient, help them to have a better quality of life, enable the patients to cope with the disease and provide symptom control. This study is planned as a determiner of validity and reliability in order to apply the Irritable Bowel Disease Quality of Life Scale. Methods: 200 cases whose colonoscopy results were normal were brought into the scope of the study. A psycholinguistic and psychometric analysis of the scale was made. For language validity, the back-translation method has been used. The structural validity of scale is analyzed with the simultaneous/similar scales method. Results: From the analysis of the content-scope validity of the scale it is deduced that the Turkish language form of the scale is an appropriate means of measurement, while the internal consistency reliability of Cronbach Alpha Coefficient, which is used to calculate the general reliability of the scale, is estimated as 0.97. Accordingly, it is determined that reliability is high. The Weighted Kappa values of scale vary between 0.81 and 0.94, this value is confirmed to be “very good” and statistically significant. Conclusion: The Irritable Bowel Disease Quality of Life Scale has quite high indicators of validity and reliability, and it can be used in Turkish society.