Cross-cultural adaptation, reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire.

BACKGROUND: Low back pain is among the most common musculoskeletal system disorders. Outcome measures are needed for the measurement of function, to establish a treatment program, and for monitoring the improvement in low back pain. There exist several questionnaires enquiring about function in low back pain. One of these is Japanese Orthopaedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire, whose reliability and validity were previously established. Other than the original version of the questionnaire, only its Persian version exists. The present study aims to investigate the cross-cultural adaptation, reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire.

METHODS: The study included 103 patients with low back pain. For reliability assessment of the questionnaire, test-retest and internal consistency analyses were performed. The results of test-retest analysis were assessed by Intraclass Correlation Coefficient method. For internal consistency, Cronbach Alpha value was used. Validity analyses of the questionnaire were performed by construct validity. For construct validity, convergent validity was tested. Convergent validity of the questionnaire was calculated via its correlation with suitable subscales of the Short Form-36 and the total score of the Oswestry Disability Index by using Pearson's correlation coefficient.

RESULTS: Intraclass Correlation Coefficient values for test-retest reliability were found to be in the range of 0.765-0.924, which indicate a sufficient level of test-retest reliability. Cronbach's Alpha value was found to be 0.804 indicating a high internal consistency. Pearson's correlation coefficient between Japanese Orthopaedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire to Short Form-36 and Oswestry Disability Index values were ranged between 0.424 and -0.810, indicating a good correlation.

CONCLUSIONS: Considering all these data, it was concluded that the Turkish version of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire is valid and reliable.