Australian Pelvic Floor Questionnaire

The Australian Pelvic Floor Questionnaire (APFQ) covers all four areas of pelvic floor function in one instrument: bladder, bowel, pelvic organ prolapse, and sexual function. Most pelvic floor tools handle only one of these, so a person with overlapping symptoms would otherwise need several questionnaires.

Its 42 questions are grouped by function, with the largest blocks on bladder and bowel symptoms. Response options run on an ordinal scale from least to most severe, and each domain builds in how bothersome the symptom is and how it affects quality of life alongside how often it happens — so a symptom that occurs rarely but distresses the person is not scored the same as one that does not. Domains yield separate scores plus a total, with higher scores meaning more severe symptoms.

• Baessler, Mowat & Maher (2019), minimal important difference for each domain

Learn More: Both an interviewer-administered and a self-administered version exist, and the self-administered version has been validated for online delivery.