Analysis of the Scoliosis Research Society-22 Questionnaire Scores: Is There a Difference Between a Child and Parent and Does Physician Review Change That?

Abstract

Study DesignProspective sequential patient series. ObjectivesTo investigate whether at initial assessment information imparted by a physician changed the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) score for a patient or a parent scoring independently of the child; to investigate whether the SRS score should be assessed before or after consultation to achieve the most accurate representation of the patient; and to investigate the differences between the patient and parent assessment of the scoliosis using the SRS questionnaire. MethodsA total of 52 children with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and their parents were given the SRS-22 questionnaire at first consultation before and after meeting the physician. Parents and patients completed the questionnaires in isolation. ResultsAssessment and discussion with a physician made no statistical difference for the SRS-22 scores for both the patients and the parents when comparing SRS-22 scores before and after consultation in most domains. Significant differences were found in a few cases. This was the case for the patient group before and after consultation for the function domain (p = .023), the patient and parent groups before and after consultation for the pain domain (p = .025 and .022 for patient and parent groups respectively), the patient and parent groups after consultation for self-image domain (p = .024), and the parent group before and after consultation for mental health domain (p = .018). However, the differences in all these cases were low and not considered clinically important. ConclusionsThe SRS-22 questionnaire is robust and a true reflection of patients' assessment of their symptoms not influenced by meeting a physician. Assessment of the child by the parent is not statistically different from the child's self-assessment using the SRS-22 instrument. It makes no difference to the total SRS-22 score as to when it is measured in the initial clinic visit.