Abstract
BackgroundThe Effective Musculoskeletal Consumer Scale (EC-17) is a self-administered questionnaire for evaluating self-management interventions that empower and educate people with rheumatic conditions. The aim of the study was to translate and evaluate the Norwegian version of EC-17 against the necessary criteria for a patient-reported outcome measure, including responsiveness to change.MethodsData quality, reliability, validity and responsiveness were assessed in two groups. One group comprising 103 patients received a questionnaire before and at the end of a self-management programme. The second group comprising 96 patients' received the questionnaire two weeks before and on arrival of the program. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were assessed. Construct validity was assessed through comparisons with the Brief Approach/Avoidance Coping Questionnaire, (BACQ), the Emotional Approach Coping Scale (EAC) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-20). Responsiveness was assessed with the Standardised Response Mean (SRM).ResultsRespondents included 66 (64%) and 52 (54%) patients from the first and second groups respectively. Levels of missing data were low for all items. There was good evidence for unidimensionality, item-total correlations ranged from 0.59 to 0.82 and Cronbach's Alpha and test-retest correlations were over 0.90. As hypothesised EC-17 scores had statistically significant low to moderate correlations with the BACQ, EAC and GHQ-20 in the range 0.26 to 0.42. Following the self-management program, EC-17 scores showed a significant improvement with an SRM of 0.48.ConclusionThe Norwegian version of the EC-17 has evidence for data quality, internal consistency and test-retest reliability, construct validity and responsiveness to change. The EC-17 seems promising as an outcome measure for evaluating self-management interventions for people with rheumatic conditions, but further studies are needed.
Highlights
The Effective Musculoskeletal Consumer Scale (EC-17) is a self-administered questionnaire for evaluating self-management interventions that empower and educate people with rheumatic conditions
Self-management programs are increasingly used as a means to empower, educate and inform patients with chronic rheumatic diseases
Several patientreported outcome measures (PROMs) have been used to evaluate these programs, including measures of different aspects of health status and quality of life [1,4,13,14]. Such outcomes are important for assessing long term benefits but may not be responsive to important changes in the shorter to medium term relating to patient skills in managing and taking an active role in healthcare
Summary
The Effective Musculoskeletal Consumer Scale (EC-17) is a self-administered questionnaire for evaluating self-management interventions that empower and educate people with rheumatic conditions. Self-management programs are increasingly used as a means to empower, educate and inform patients with chronic rheumatic diseases Such interventions are designed to encourage patients to be more active and take responsibility for their own health care with aims of increased self-efficacy, coping with stress, problem solving and interactions with healthcare professionals [1,2]. Several patientreported outcome measures (PROMs) have been used to evaluate these programs, including measures of different aspects of health status and quality of life [1,4,13,14] Such outcomes are important for assessing long term benefits but may not be responsive to important changes in the shorter to medium term relating to patient skills in managing and taking an active role in healthcare. Often delivered in variety of environments and with different outcomes make it difficult to compare results from one study/ intervention with another
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