Abstract
BackgroundThe Questionnaire to Identify Knee Symptoms (QuIKS) was recently developed to promote activity by screening for experiences related to early symptoms in people with emergent chronic knee pain problems, such as osteoarthritis (OA) – like knee pain. The main purpose of the current study was to evaluate measurement properties of the QuIKS using Rasch analysis in a sample of people with knee symptoms consistent with symptomatic knee OA.MethodThis study used cross-sectional data. The sample was 200 subjects along the following knee health continuum: pain-free healthy knees (n = 55) from a university community, knee pain with no knee OA diagnosis (n = 111) from a university-affiliated medical clinic, and patients with surgeon-diagnosed symptomatic knee OA awaiting high tibial osteotomy (n = 34) from a sports medicine surgical clinic. The 13-item QuIKS was evaluated for its factor structure, item- and person-fit, item’s category response structure, differential item functioning by sex and obesity status, local item dependency, unidimensionality, and test precision. Subsequently, the QuIKS underwent known-groups analysis and convergent validity with the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS).ResultsIn the QuIKS, each item’s category response structure was modified. No differential item functioning was observed. Local item dependency informed the formation of four testlets. This refined QuIKS obtained summary fit to the Rasch measurement model, unidimensionality, reliability (person separation index = 0.82), and interval-level scoring. Subsequently, the Rasch-validated QuIKS (QuIKS-R) demonstrated excellent known-groups validity and good convergent validity with the KOOS (Spearman’s rho = 0.45 to 0.77).ConclusionsThe QuIKS-R provides interval-level quantification of knee symptoms-related experiences in people with knee symptoms consistent with symptomatic knee OA. Its scores might be useful for clinicians for promoting activity in individuals with early symptoms consistent with symptomatic knee OA.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12955-015-0358-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative joint disease in which knee pain and changes in the joint structure are related to ill-effects that include physical impairments, activity limitations, participation restrictions, and reduced quality of life [1,2,3,4]
Its scores might be useful for clinicians for promoting activity in individuals with early symptoms consistent with symptomatic knee OA
The Questionnaire to Identify Knee Symptoms (QuIKS), was developed for clinical and research use “to identify emerging knee problems in people who could benefit from conservative interventions” (p. 1) by quantifying patient’s experiences [9]
Summary
Symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative joint disease in which knee pain and changes in the joint structure are related to ill-effects that include physical impairments, activity limitations, participation restrictions, and reduced quality of life [1,2,3,4]. Its items were generated through qualitative research that used grounded theory to describe a process of how people with knee symptoms go through a cycle of perceiving, forming intentions, and exhibiting behaviours directed at preventing damage when engaged in physical activity [5]. This was followed by rheumatology experts’ consensus, item reduction and internal consistency evaluation [9].
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