Slovenian version of the scoliosis research society instrument-22 revised (SRS-22r) in adolescents and adults: Psychometric properties and some implications

PURPOSE: This study aimed to provide a reliable and valid translation of the Scoliosis Research Society-22 (SRS-22r) questionnaire, compare it with the EQ-5D-5 L questionnaire, and analyse health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with idiopathic scoliosis (IS) in Slovenia in order to potentially improve their rehabilitation processes. METHODS: A matched-case-control study was performed to assess internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, and discriminative validity. The questionnaire was returned by 25 adolescent IS patients, 25 adult IS patients, and 25 healthy controls (87%, 71%, and 100% response rate, respectively). RESULTS: Internal consistency was high for all four scales in the adult IS group, but lower among the adolescent patients. Test-retest reliability of the SRS-22r was high to very high in both patient groups. Correlations between SRS-22r and EQ5D-5 L were low or close to zero among adolescent patients and moderate or high among adult IS patients. SRS-22r domain scores were statistically significantly different between adult patients and healthy controls. CONCLUSION: The study proved that the Slovenian version of SRS-22r has the psychometric properties needed to measure HRQoL, whereby it appears to be more reliable for adults than adolescents. When used with IS adolescents, SRS-22r is affected by a severe ceiling effect. It could be used for longitudinal follow-up of adult patients after rehabilitation treatment. Additionally, some important issues that adolescents and adults with IS are faced with were identified.