The Türkish Version of the Freezing of Gait Questionnaire

The freezing of gait (FOG) is one of the disabling symptoms in Parkinson's disease. The diagnosis and assessment of the FOG may be diffucult, but it is absolutely necessary. The aim of this study was to develop a Türkish version of the freezing of gait questionnaire (FOG-Q) and assess the validity and reliability of this Türkish version.

The researchers firstly communicated with the developers of the FOG-Q. The permission for Turkish version was received by Giladi. Then, the FOG-Q will be adapted into Türkish using forward-backward translation by three native Türkish-speaking forward translators and one native English-speaking backward translator. The internal reliability of the FOG-Q Türkish version will be assessed using Cronbach's alpha, and item analyses will be conducted by examining the effect on Cronbach's alpha of excluding each of the six FOG-Q items individually. The test-retest reliability will be assessed using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).

Convergent validity will be evaluated by means of Spearman rank correlation coefficient (rs). In this section will be determined the correlation between the FOG-Q scores and scores of the UPDRS motor section , Berg Balance Scale, Timed up and go test, Falls Efficacy Scale and Hoehn and Yahr stages.