• ÖZ

Objectives: This study aims to determine the preferences of physical and rehabilitation medicine (PRM) residents in Turkey for future career choices, subspecialty training plans, and practice location and to identify the factors that influence those preferences. Materials and methods: Using a cross-sectional study design, a survey was sent to all PRM residents enrolled in the Turkish Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Turkish League Against Rheumatism (n=500). A total of 181 residents (36%) (74 males, 107 females; mean age 28.8 years; range 24 to 40 years) responded to the survey. Data were collected about demographic profile of respondents and PRM clinics, respondents’ experiences in rheumatology education and injection skills, preferences for fellowship training, and future practice location. Results: Thirty-five percent of residents intended to pursue fellowship training. Rheumatology was more preferred than algology. Male sex was positively associated with the decision to pursue fellowship training and also having an algology division in the PRM department was positively associated with planning to pursue algology fellowship training. For those planning to pursue fellowship training, the most influential factors were prestige, interest in an academic career and the possibility of performing compulsory service in a better location. Thirty-four percent of residents preferred to work in university hospitals after residency while 57% of residents who planned to pursue fellowship training preferred to practice at university hospitals after their fellowship. Thus, an academically oriented career was the most desirable career choice. Conclusion: One-third of residents training in Turkey chose to pursue fellowship training and work in university hospitals. Performing compulsory service was the top factor affecting the decisions of both undecided and reluctant residents; thus, career plans of PRM residents in Turkey are not based solely on personal and professional desires, but require consideration of compulsory service.

• ÖZ

Objectives: This study aims to report the assessment of the Turkish League Against Rheumatism (TLAR) expert panel on the compliance and adaptation of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) 2016 recommendations for the management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Turkey. Patients and methods: The EULAR 2016 recommendations for the treatment of RA were voted by 27 specialists experienced in this field with regard to participation rate for each recommendation and significance of items. Afterwards, each recommendation was brought forward for discussion and any alteration gaining ≥70% approval was accepted. Also, Turkish version of each item was rearranged. Last version of the recommendations was then revoted to determine the level of agreement. Levels of agreement of the two voting rounds were compared with Wilcoxon signed-rank test. In case of significant difference, the item with higher level of agreement was accepted. In case of no difference, the changed item was selected.Results: Four overarching principles and 12 recommendations were assessed among which three overarching principles and one recommendation were changed. The changed overarching principles emphasized the importance of physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists as well as rheumatologists for the care of RA patients in Turkey. An alteration was made in the eighth recommendation on treatment of active RA patients with unfavorable prognostic indicators after failure of three conventional disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs. Remaining principles were accepted as the same although some alterations were suggested but could not find adequate support to reach significance. Conclusion: Expert opinion of the TLAR for the treatment of RA was composed for practices in Turkish rheumatology and/or physical medicine and rehabilitation clinics.

• ÖZ

Objective: The objective of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Fibromyalgia Participation Questionnaire (FPQ). Methods: One hundred and eighty-four female patients with fibromyalgia syndrome were included in the study. All patients filled out the Turkish FPQ (FPQ-T) questionnaire, which was obtained by translation from German according to the guideline for the process of cross-cultural adaptation The patients filled out the revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and reevaluated the FPQ-T two hours later. Internal consistency reliability of the FPQ-T was assessed by calculating the “if item deleted” using Cronbach’s alpha and the “item-total correction” coefficient for each item of the ques- tionnaire. The consistency of the subscales and the correlation of the test-retest values were assessed. The test-retest values were compared using the Wilcoxon test. Criterion validity was measured using FIQ scales by Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Results: For internal reliability, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated as 0.957 for nonworking patients and 0.958 for working patients. Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.939, 0.871, and 0.914 were ob- tained for daily, social, and work life, respectively. Correlation coefficients were 0.888 for daily life, 0.859 for social life, and 0.901 overall in the nonworking group versus 0.896 the in working group. The com- parison of scores obtained from test-retest measurements showed no significant difference except for Item 3. The correlation of the symptom severity score (SSS) and the FPQ-T was r=0.385 (p<0.001) and r=0.390 (p<0.001) for the nonworking and working subgroups, respectively. The evaluation of construct validity showed a significant correlation between the SSS and FPQ-T. Conclusion: The results of our study showed that the FPQ-T is reliable and valid for assessing participa- tion and social functioning in fibromyalgia patients in Turkish society.