Near the end of September 2004, I was delighted to receive an e-mail from Beng etinkaya, an instructor at Pamukkale University Nursing School in Denizli, Turkey, requesting my permission to use the Infant Colic Scale I had developed in her dissertation research. I replied to her e-mail granting permission and attached the Infant Colic Scale, the demographic data form, and the Excel software program my son developed for scoring the scale. About a year later, I received a second e-mail requesting that I indicate which of the scale items should be reverse coded. I responded with the information requested.

In October 2006, I was very pleased to receive for review the manuscript titled "A Validity and Reliability Study Investigating the Turkish Version of the Infant Colic Scale." Of course, I had to read through it immediately to see if the manuscript was referring to the Infant Colic Scale I had developed and to see if the scale worked for nurses in Turkey. It was in fact my tool that was being tested, and the scale was found to be valid and reliable with Turkish mothers. I was ecstatic!! When I calmed down and was able to read the manuscript more carefully, I realized that this was a well-designed, carefully conducted study of which the researchers should be proud.

Infant colic is an international problem recognized mostly in developing countries. Nurses worldwide need to work together to solve this as well as other common patient-care problems. Do not be afraid to contact a researcher to request an article that is unavailable to you or to ask to use an instrument the researcher developed. The researcher will be delighted to receive the request, and most will give you permission to use their instrument and even facilitate you receiving a copy.

Also, it is very important that psychometric testing be done on any instrument whenever it is introduced into a new culture. Researchers cannot assume that because an instrument has been found to be valid and reliable in one or more cultures, it is also going to be valid and reliable in the new culture. This study has made an important contribution to nursing research by extending the validity and reliability of the Infant Colic Scale.