Bonetti F1, Angilecchia D2, Daugenti A3, Chiarotto A4, Giovannico G5, Mezzetti M6
1Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy, 2Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit of 'Organizzazione Sanitaria Meridionale Assistenza Inabili Recupero Minori' (OSMAIRM), Laterza, Italy, 3Centro Giovanni Paolo II - Istituto Neuromed, Putignano, Italy, 4VU Medisch Centrum School of Medical Sciences, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 5Studio Professionale FTM, Lizzanello, Italy, 6Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Facoltà di Economia, Rome, Italy
Background: Valid and reliable disease-specific outcome measures support professionals in evaluating the results of clinical research and practice. The Copenhagen Neck Functional Disability Scale (CNFDS) has shown promising measurement properties to measure disability in patients with neck pain, but an Italian version of this questionnaire is not available.
Purpose: To translate and validate into Italian (CNFDS-I) and to assess its reliability and validity in patients with neck pain. Study design: cross-sectional observational study.
Methods: The CNFDS-I was developed according to well-established guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation of health-related questionnaires.
One-hundred sixty-two patients with chronic neck pain completed the questionnaire. The clinimetric evaluation included: structural validity, internal consistency, test - retest reliability and measurement error. Construct validity was also assessed by testing hypotheses on expected correlations with Neck Disability Index (NDI), Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire (NBQ), and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS).
Results: The CNFDS-I exhibited sufficient unidimensionality and internal consistency (α = 0.83).
Test - retest reliability was excellent (ICC 0.99, 95% CI from 0.995 to 0.999), while measurement error was not sufficient.
All correlations with NDI (r=0.84), NBQ (r=0.70) and VAS (r=0.57) were as expected showing very good construct validity.
No floor/ceiling effects were detected and the average time for filling the questionnaire was two minutes.
Conclusion(s): The CNFDS-I proved to be a valid and reliable outcome measure to assess disability in patients with chronic neck pain. Comparative evidence on the CNFDS measurement properties against other disability tools for neck pain (e.g. NDI and NBQ) is required to determine the relative merits of this measure compared to other tools.
Implications: The CNFDS-I is a self-administered questionnaire and it is applicable in everyday clinical practice.
It is unidimensional and useful to investigate about the disability, focusing the patient's attention on the management of the daily activities, rather than on the pain symptom only.
Keywords: chronic neck pain, Copenhagen neck functional disability scale, outcome measure
Funding acknowledgements: The study is unfunded.
Purpose: To translate and validate into Italian (CNFDS-I) and to assess its reliability and validity in patients with neck pain. Study design: cross-sectional observational study.
Methods: The CNFDS-I was developed according to well-established guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation of health-related questionnaires.
One-hundred sixty-two patients with chronic neck pain completed the questionnaire. The clinimetric evaluation included: structural validity, internal consistency, test - retest reliability and measurement error. Construct validity was also assessed by testing hypotheses on expected correlations with Neck Disability Index (NDI), Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire (NBQ), and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS).
Results: The CNFDS-I exhibited sufficient unidimensionality and internal consistency (α = 0.83).
Test - retest reliability was excellent (ICC 0.99, 95% CI from 0.995 to 0.999), while measurement error was not sufficient.
All correlations with NDI (r=0.84), NBQ (r=0.70) and VAS (r=0.57) were as expected showing very good construct validity.
No floor/ceiling effects were detected and the average time for filling the questionnaire was two minutes.
Conclusion(s): The CNFDS-I proved to be a valid and reliable outcome measure to assess disability in patients with chronic neck pain. Comparative evidence on the CNFDS measurement properties against other disability tools for neck pain (e.g. NDI and NBQ) is required to determine the relative merits of this measure compared to other tools.
Implications: The CNFDS-I is a self-administered questionnaire and it is applicable in everyday clinical practice.
It is unidimensional and useful to investigate about the disability, focusing the patient's attention on the management of the daily activities, rather than on the pain symptom only.
Keywords: chronic neck pain, Copenhagen neck functional disability scale, outcome measure
Funding acknowledgements: The study is unfunded.
Topic: Outcome measurement; Musculoskeletal: spine; Research methodology & knowledge translation
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: Azienda Sanitaria Locale - Bindisi
Ethics committee: Comitato indipendente di Etica Medica
Ethics number: Prot.16354 del march 9, 2016
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
