LAUSR

BACKGROUND The Neurogenic Bladder Symptom Score-Short Form (NBSS-SF) evaluates the impact of disease-specific symptoms on the quality of life (QoL) 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 at providing the translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of the Arabic NBSS-SF in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and spinal cord injury (SCI). METHODS The original English language version of the NBSS-SF was translated into Arabic according to the cultural and linguistic adaptation algorithm. People with SCI and MS completed the NBSS-SF, demographic and clinical information, and Qualiveen QoL questionnaire. Responses were recorded 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 Qualiveen questionnaire. RESULTS Thirty-nine patients with MS and 97 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 0.82; storage/voiding 0.73; consequences 0.53). ICC was 0.93 for the overall score and 0.96 for the urinary incontinence subdomain, 0.74 for storage/voiding, and 0.91 for consequences. The correlation analysis showed a significantly strong correlation between the QoL item of NBSS-SF and the Qualiveen total score (r = 0.72, p < 0.000). There was a significant moderate positive correlation between the total scores on the Arabic version of the NBSS-SF and the subdomains of the Qualiveen, including limitations (r = 0.51, p = 0.04), fears (r = 0.57, p = 0.04), feelings (r = 0.46, p = 0.01), and constraints (r = 0.59, p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS Our results showed that the Arabic version of NBSS-SF is a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction symptoms in the Arabic population suffering from SCI and MS.