OBJECTIVES: Prevalence rates of 16% have been reported for overactive bladder (OAB). Despite the high prevalence of overactive bladder (OAB), it is both an under-diagnosed and underreported condition; less than one half of community-dwelling persons with urinary incontinence consult physicians about the problem. Once symptoms develop many individuals explore treatment options through a variety of channels depending on symptom severity, perceived risk and the perceived value gained from taking appropriate action. The purpose of this study was to develop a self-administered questionnaire to measure perceived value for patients presenting with symptoms of OAB. Psychometric evaluation of this questionnaire for scale development included item development, item reduction and item analysis to assess reliability and validity. METHODS: A questionnaire consisting of 18 items was used for the study. Prior to inclusion items were evaluated for both content and face validity to ensure that they adequately represented the value domain. The sample consisted of 50 patients from a large clinic having symptoms of OAB. To be included, participants were either male or female and were not taking medications to treat their symptoms. Females had to be pre-menopausal with no controls implemented for hormone replacement therapy. Data were obtained via telephone using trained interviewers. RESULTS: The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) Measure of Sampling Adequacy for the final principal components analysis was 0.774. The Bartlett Test of Sphericity was significant (.0001), indicating the appropriate use of exploratory factor analysis. Item reduction was accomplished by examining item to total correlations and factor loadings. Oblique rotation was used to obtain a final factor solution consisting of four items, which explained 60% of the variance. Cronbach's alpha was 0.78 for the value scale. CONCLUSIONS: A scale to assess perceived value was developed that after undergoing psychometric evaluation satisfied the criteria for scale reliability and validity.