Turkish USIQ: Validity & Reliability

The Urgency, Severity, and Impact Questionnaire (USIQ) assesses urinary urgency independently of incontinence, measuring both symptom severity and its impact on quality of life. While validated in English and Hebrew populations, a Turkish version has not yet been developed. This study aims to adapt USIQ for the Turkish population and evaluate its psychometric properties, providing a standardized, culturally relevant tool for clinical and research use.

The International Continence Society (ICS) defines urinary urgency as "a sudden and compelling desire to urinate that is difficult to defer." According to this definition, urgency is an abnormal sensation that can be distinguished from the normal "urge to urinate" occurring during routine bladder filling. Urinary urgency is the core symptom of Overactive Bladder (OAB) syndrome and is often accompanied by daytime frequency and nocturia; urge incontinence may also occur. Epidemiological studies show that OAB symptoms are common in the adult population and increase in prevalence with age. Urinary urgency is reported by patients as one of the main symptoms negatively affecting quality of life. Consequently, the severity of urgency has a multidimensional impact on health-related quality of life. Because of the subjective nature of urgency and the tendency of patients to confuse "normal urge" with "urinary urgency," its measurement is challenging. Since there is no gold-standard objective measure for urinary urgency and its severity, accurate assessment of this symptom is essential. Although many scales have been developed to assess OAB severity and its impact on quality of life, most address urgency together with incontinence or do not sufficiently assess severity. This represents a significant methodological gap leading to incomplete evaluation of symptoms. To address this gap, the Urgency, Severity, and Impact Questionnaire (USIQ) was developed. USIQ evaluates urinary urgency independently of incontinence, adheres to ICS definitions, and measures both symptom severity (USIQ-S) and its impact on quality of life (USIQ-QOL) separately. Unlike other OAB questionnaires, USIQ allows assessment of urgency severity and its effects on quality of life regardless of continence status. For a scale to be used in a different culture and language, it must be adapted and its psychometric properties tested. While USIQ has been validated in English and Hebrew populations, a Turkish version adapted for linguistic and cultural context and psychometrically evaluated has not yet been developed. Therefore, there is a clear need for a validated Turkish version of USIQ that measures urinary urgency severity and its impact on quality of life independently of incontinence.