The reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the fear-avoidance beliefs questionnaire for evaluating patients with lower back pain

Abstract

Objective To translate a fear-avoidance belief questionnaire and explore the reliability, validity and responsiveness of the Chinese version for evaluating patients with lower back pain. Method The original questionnaire translated into Chinese (the FABQ-CHI) was administered to inpatients and outpatients who also completed a medical outcomes 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36), the Chinese version of Oswestry's disability index (CODI), and an 11-point pain numerical rating scale (NRS). Two days later, the outpatients were asked to complete the questionnaire again. About one to two weeks later, the inpatients were evaluated again. Results The FABQ-CHI had very good content validity, split-half reliability and test-retest reliability, with intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.809 and 0.696 and a Cronbach's alpha of 0. 857. Spearman's correlation coefficients between the FABQ-CHI and the NRS, the CODI, the SF-36 (physical) and the SF-36 (mental) were 0.303, 0. 488, -0. 350 and -0. 308 respectively. Factor analysis yielded three factors which accounted for 61.2% of the total response variance. Conclusions The FABQ-CHI is a valid and reliable evaluating tool for patients with lower back pain. It has been shown to demonstrate very good content validity, a high degree of test-retest reliability and internal consistency,and good construct validity. Key words: Lower back pain; Fear avoidance belief questionnaire; Validity; Reliability; Assessment