Cultural adaptation and reliability-validity of the body image in the pelvic organ prolapse questionnaire and examination of the relationships of body image with different parameters

The aims of this study were to adapt the ''Body Image in the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Questionnaire (BIPOP)'' to Turkish culture, to investigate its reliability-validity, and to examine the relationships between POP-specific body image and level of physical activity and knowledge about POP. 150 individuals with stage 2 and above POP were included in the study. After questioning the descriptive characteristics and medical history of the individuals, POP-specific body image and genital body image were evaluated with BIPOP and Female Genital Self Image Scale (FGSIS), respectively. The level of symptomatic distress associated with POP and the effect of symptoms on quality of life were evaluated using the ''Pelvic Organ Prolapse Distress Inventory-6" (POPDI-6) and ''Pelvic Organ Prolapse Impact Questionnaire-7" (POPIQ-7) scales, respectively. The level of physical activity was evaluated with the short form of the ''International Physical Activity Questionnaire'' (IPAQ-Short Form) and the level of knowledge about prolapse was evaluated with the ''Prolapse and Incontinence Knowledge Questionnaire-POP'' (PIKQ-POP). To evaluate reliability and validity of the BIPOP; internal consistency and test-retest reliability, criterion and construct validity analyses were used. According to the results of the study, the internal consistency (Cronbach α=0,918) of the BIPOP and the test-retest reliability (0,538˂r˂0,828) of the scale items were found to be quite high. Criterion validity was demonstrated based on the relationship of BIPOP with FGSIS (r=-0,450; p˂0,05), POPDI-6 (r=0,321; p˂0,05) and POPIQ-7 (r=0,377; p˂0,05) scores and the original 2-factor construct validity was confirmed. It was revealed that the BIPOP scores of individuals with symptomatic POP and those with asymptomatic POP were different (p=0,015). It was found that there was no relationship between POP-specific body image and physical activity level and knowledge level about POP (p>0,05). Turkish-BIPOP is a reliable and valid scale for evaluating POP-specific body image. Further studies investigating the responsiveness of BIPOP to various treatments, especially conservative approaches, are needed.