• Asa Dedering and Tina Börjesson.
• Department of Physical Therapy, Karolinska University Hospital, 171 76, Stockholm, Sweden; Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 141 86, Stockholm, Sweden.
• Physiother Res Int. 2013 Dec 1;18(4):193-202.

Background And PurposeThe study sought to evaluate validity and reliability of the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire and the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia in patients with cervical radiculopathy.MethodsA test-retest design was used to test stability over time in 46 patients with cervical radiculopathy. Differences between patients and healthy subjects were also evaluated comparing the patients with 41 physically active and healthy subjects. The patients answered the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire and the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia twice. To test for differences between the patients and the healthy subjects, the latter answered the same questionnaires once. Questionnaires about activity, personal factors and health were also used.ResultsThe test-retest reliability assessed with weighted kappa was 0.68 for the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire and 0.45 for the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia. Only six of the 11 single items of the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire and none of the single items of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia showed kappa coefficients exceeding 0.60 (good reliability). Patients with cervical radiculopathy rated significantly worse on the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire and the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia than the healthy subjects did.ConclusionsThe Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire may be recommended for test-retest evaluations because 'good' reliability was found. The Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia had only 'moderate' test-retest reliability, and this should be considered when using this scale in test-retest evaluations. Both questionnaires can discriminate between patients with cervical radiculopathy and healthy subjects.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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