Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2004 Jul;191(1):165-70.
doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2004.04.047.

The use of Visual Analog Scale in urogynecologic research: a psychometric evaluation

Emily S Lukacz  1 , Jean M Lawrence, Raoul J Burchette, Karl M Luber, Charles W Nager, J Galen Buckwalter
Affiliations

The use of Visual Analog Scale in urogynecologic research: a psychometric evaluation

Emily S Lukacz et al. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2004 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the validity of Visual Analog Scales in urogynecologic research.

Study design: In phase I, 35 women completed short forms of the urogenital distress inventory, incontinence impact questionnaire, and Beck depression inventory fast screen using the Likert-type scale and Visual Analog Scale formats. Reliability was estimated with Spearman's correlations and Cronbach's alpha; construct validity was assessed with the use of factor analyses. In phase II, 101 women were recruited for the test-retest reliability assessment of the Visual Analog Scale formats of the urogenital distress inventory and incontinence impact questionnaire short forms. Reproducibility was analyzed with intraclass correlations.

Results: In phase I, correlations between the Likert-type scale and the Visual Analog Scale were good: urogenital distress inventory (0.748), incontinence impact questionnaire (0.787), and Beck depression inventory fast screen (0.852; P <.05). In phase II, intraclass correlations were 0.898 and 0.938 for the urogenital distress inventory and incontinence impact questionnaire scores, respectively ( P <.001).

Conclusion: The Visual Analog Scale is a simple, reliable, and reproducible method for the assessment of quality of life in urogynecologic research.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types