Pelvic floor symptoms and symptom-related quality of life in the mothers of children with cerebral palsy: a pilot cross-sectional study.

Pelvic floor symptoms may occur in women with low back pain due to dysfunction of the spinal stabilization muscles. Low back pain is the most common musculoskeletal problem experienced by the mothers of children with cerebral palsy (CP). Therefore, our aim in this study was to examine pelvic floor symptoms and symptom-related quality of life in the mothers of children with CP. The study included 48 mothers of children with CP (n = 23) or without neurodevelopmental problems (n = 25). The mothers' pelvic floor symptoms and symptom-related quality of life were evaluated with the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20 (PFDI-20) and the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire-7 (PFIQ-7). PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7 scores did not differ between the two groups of mothers (p > .05). Additionally, moderately significant positive correlations were found between the age of the child with CP and duration of carrying and the PFDI-20 (r = 0.419, p = .047) and PFIQ-7 (r = 0.427, p = .042) scores. Pelvic floor symptoms and symptom-related quality of life in the mothers of children with CP were similar to those in the mothers of children without neurodevelopmental problems. As the age of the child with CP and duration of carrying increase, the urinary symptoms and urinary and colorectoanal symptoms-related quality of life in their mothers may worsen.

Turkish translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and psychometric validation of the pregnancy symptoms inventory: An instrument to assess the full spectrum of pregnancy symptoms.

OBJECTIVE: To translate the PSI (Pregnancy Symptoms Inventory) into Turkish, to perform its cultural adaptation, to establish its reliability and validity, and to examine the prevalence of perceived pregnancy symptoms frequency and symptom-related limitation in Turkish pregnant women. DESIGN: This cross-sectional study included healthy pregnant women over 18 years old from all 3 pregnancy trimesters. In the reliability analysis, the test-retest reliability was investigated by the Pearson correlation analysis. For the criterion validity of the PSI, correlations between the total pregnancy symptom frequency scores and the total scores of the Tilburg Pregnancy Distress Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Nottingham Health Profile were analyzed. Frequency and limitation perception prevalence of the symptoms were calculated as a percentage based on the response to each symptom. Statistical significance level was accepted as p<0.05. MEASUREMENTS AND FINDINGS: In the present study, 210 pregnant women participated, and 42 pregnant women filled out the Turkish-PSI twice for the test-retest analysis. In the frequency and limitation sections of the PSI, the test-retest correlations for each symptom were found to vary between medium and very strong (0.42-1.00 and 0.39-1.00, p <0.05, respectively). Moderate correlations (rho = 0.39-0.58, p <0.05, p ≤ 0.001) were detected between the frequency section total score and the total scores of the other scales. The top four symptoms indicated as "often" by the Turkish pregnant women were urinary frequency (42.4%), fatigue/tiredness (28.6%), increased vaginal discharge (26.7%), and upper/lower back pain (23.8%). KEY CONCLUSIONS: The Turkish-PSI is a comprehensive, reliable, and valid inventory for evaluating a wide range of pregnancy symptoms in Turkish pregnant women. Further studies are needed to examine the sensitivity of the Turkish-PSI to treatment-induced changes. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Comprehensive and practical symptom questioning tools such as the PSI during pregnancy can lead to the early detection of pregnancy symptoms and to initiate effective non-pharmacological interventions.