Abstract

Although the Short Form Health Survey version-2.0 (SF-36v2) is widely used since 2000, the researchers and clinicians in Turkey have been still using the original version. However, the original version includes many deficiencies and the SF-36v2 was introduced aiming to correct these deficiencies. The purpose of this study is to indicate differences between SF-36 and SF-36v2 and the present cross cultural adaptation, reliability and validity of the SF-36v2. The SF-36v2 was cross culturally adapted to Turkish and the measurement properties of the Turkish version of the SF-36v2 were tested in 50 patients (19 males, mean ± SD age: 36.9 ± 14.6 years, range: 16–65 years, BMI, 24.1 ± 4.6) with a variety of musculoskeletal pathologies. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were used to estimate the test-retest reliability. Construct validity was analyzed with SF-36v2 and EuroQol Group (EQ-5D). The distribution of ceiling and floor effects was determined. During the cross-cultural adaptation process many changes were made. The Turkish SF-36v2 subscales showed excellent test-retest reliability which was ranged 0.80 to 0.95. The highest correlation was found between SF-36v2-PCS and SF-36v2-PF (r = 0.75), the lowest correlation was found between SF-36v2-PCS and SF-36v2-MH (r = 0.05). The correlations between EQ-5D and SF-36v2 subscales ranged from 0.10 (SF-36v2 –VT) to 0.46 (SF-36v2 –RE). We observed no ceiling and floor effects. The cultural adaptation of the SF-36v2 was successful. The SF-36v2 has sufficient reliability and validity to measure a variety of musculoskeletal pathologies for Turkish-speaking individuals.