Development and Validation of an ICF-Based New Scale: Atılım Kinesiophobia Scale

The pupose of this study was to develop and validate a new reliable tool; ‘Atılım Kinesiophobia Scale’ (AKS) in Turkish language.

AKS was originally developed in Turkish language. Psychometric testing included; for construct validity; Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) n=180 and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) n=187, reliability by internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) and test-retest repeatability n=100 (Intraclass Coefficient Correlation), Convergent and divergent validity (Pearson correlation) by comparing TSK-17 scale and Visual Analogue Scale. For this study, The AKS and The TSK were completed by patients with both acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain.

AKS demonstrated a good internal consistency as well as convergent validity with significant correlations with TSK (r=0.478, p0.001) and divergent validity with insignificant correlations with VAS (r=0.019, p=0.855). Our questionnaire's Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.862 indicates that it has a good degree of internal consistency. With these results, the final version of AKS narrowed down to 4 factors and 14 items with good internal validity. The results of this research showed that AKS demonstrated a good internal consistency as well as convergent validity with significant correlations with TSK (r=0.478, p0.001) and divergent validity with insignificant correlations with VAS (r=0.019, p=0.855). Our questionnaire's Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.862 indicates that it has a good degree of internal consistency. With these results, the final version of AKS narrowed down to 4 factors and 14 items with good internal validity. 

We developed and validated  the Atılım Kinesiophobia Scale (AKS) to assess pain-related movement fear in acute and/or chronic musculoskeletal pain in accordance with ICF domains. This new ICF based scale showed good internal and external validity and may be used to assess the patients' kinesiophobia with biological, psychological and social factors according to the ICF model.  Further studies are needed in order to verify the validity and reliability of the AKS in various health conditions and cultures. 

• The Atılım Kinesiophobia Scale is a new scale based on  International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) with good internal and external validity. It is aim is to assess the patients' kinesiophobia in line with  ICF framework.
• The Atılım Kinesiophobia Scale measures kinesiophobia holistically, including pain related fear and avoidance, attitude towards movement and activity, emotional factors, activity and participation perspectives.
• We think that it is important to assess the patient with multiple aspects to create a proper rehabilitation programme. Since the ICF is an important classification system when it comes to assess and create a rehabilitation programme for patients, this new scale which is based on ICF is very important for medical doctors, physical therapists and other healthcare professionals who is working with patients with kinesiophobia risk.