Cross-cultural Adaptation of the Pelvic Girdle Questionnaire for the French-Canadian Population.

OBJECTIVE: The Pelvic Girdle Questionnaire (PGQ) is the only condition-specific tool assessing activity limitations and symptoms for those with pelvic girdle pain (PGP). It is simple to administer and can be used in research and clinical settings during pregnancy and postpartum periods; however, there currently is no version for the French-Canadian population. The aim of this study was to translate and culturally adapt the PGQ for the French-Canadian population.

METHODS: The French-Canadian translation and adaptation of the PGQ was completed following a 4-stage approach: (1) forward translation, (2) synthesis, (3) expert committee review, and (4) testing of the prefinal version of the questionnaire. The testing stage was conducted with a cohort of 34 women, aged 18 to 45 years, who experienced PGP over the span of pregnancy or during the first year postpartum.

RESULTS: The global understanding of the PGP concept was rated as either "Fair" (41.2%) or "Good" (32.4%) by the majority of participants, which led to the consensual decision to add an illustration of the pelvic girdle region to the final version of the French-Canadian PGQ. Only 1 item ("Has your leg/have your legs given way?") was reported as unclear by 12 participants (35.3%). The expert committee unanimously agreed to add a brief explanation of the term "given way" to the final version to ensure proper understanding of the question.

CONCLUSIONS: The current study yielded a satisfactory French-Canadian translation of the PGQ.