RESUMO
Background: The Short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) is a widely used tool for assessing musculoskeletal pain, both in research and clinical practice. However, a culturally appropriate Arabic version for the Libyan context has not been available. This study aims to translate the SF-MPQ, and to examine its reliability and validity for assessing musculoskeletal pain in Libya. Methods: The SF-MPQ was cross-culturally adapted into Arabic using a forward-backward method. A total of 151 patients (Mean age ± SD = 40.66 ± 14) with musculoskeletal pain completed the SF-MPQ and other measures. Of these, 148 patients completed the second round of questionnaire completion two days after the first visit. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to examine relative test-retest reliability and Bland-Altman plots was performed to examine absolute agreement between the two assessments. Spearman's correlation was applied to assess construct validity. Results: The Arabic translation of the SF-MPQ was linguistically equivalent, without significant discrepancies. All but two of the Arabic descriptors were used by more than 33% of the participants, indicating good item measurement equivalency. The results showed a satisfactory Cronbach's α (0.74 for the total score), which indicates good internal consistency. The ICC for the total score revealed a high correlation for the test-retest (0.91), suggesting excellent relative reliability. Bland-Altman analyses showed no significant systematic bias between the repeated measurements. There were positive statistically significant correlations among the SF-MPQ, the Visual Analog Scale, and the Fatigue Severity Scale (P < 0.001), demonstrating good construct validity. Conclusion: These results suggest that the Arabic SF-MPQ is reliable, valid, and cross-culturally equivalent to the original SF-MPQ for evaluating musculoskeletal pain among Arabic-speaking patients in Libya. Clinicians and researchers may therefore consider using this scale, as it is easy to use and understand by different age groups. Further research is needed to confirm our findings and to test the developed Arabic version of the SF-MPQ on different patient populations.
RESUMO
Patient satisfaction (PS) is an essential indicator of the quality of physiotherapy services. However, regarding Libya, there has been a dearth of research on PS. This cross-sectional study aimed to measure PS with outpatient physiotherapy services and to examine the sociodemographic factors that influence the levels of satisfaction in Libya. Patient satisfaction with physiotherapy services was assessed using a reliable, valid, and structured questionnaire. Data were collected from 501 patients, and the participants' ages ranged from 18 to 79 (mean ± standard deviation = 47.19 ± 12.8), with more females (n = 312) than males (n = 189). Participants were satisfied or very satisfied with the physiotherapy they received in the domains that measure PS. The highest percentage of satisfaction was in the physiotherapists' attributes and ability to provide detailed explanations to their patients. Patient satisfaction was also associated with gender and occupation, with females and unemployed patients reporting higher satisfaction rates. This highlights the value of surveys administered to patients during treatments, as well as the value of strategies to address the influential factors for the improvement of PS in public physiotherapy clinics in Libya.