The Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia: Structural Validation among Adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis Undergoing Spinal Fusion Surgery.

AIMS

Spinal fusion surgery is one of the most invasive orthopedic surgeries. Pain while moving or a fear of experiencing pain after surgery may delay return to function and cause prolonged disability. The purpose of the study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) in pediatric patients undergoing scoliosis surgery.

METHODS

Fifty-five adolescents (10-18 years old) scheduled for spinal fusion surgery were enrolled. Participants completed the TSK questionnaire before surgery and six weeks after surgery. Reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed on the two-factors TSK including activity avoidance (TSK-AA) and somatic focus (TSK-SF).

RESULTS

Before and after surgery, all TSK-AA items conformed into the same factor component and revealed good internal reliability with Cronbach's alpha of .76 and .70 respectively. TSK-SF items were separated into different factor components and revealed poor reliability (.11 and .56). The TSK-AA also produced an adequate fit to the data, as reflected with several fit indices at both timepoints, respectively: / = 1.19 and 1.22; CFI=.96 and .94; and RMSEA=.06 and .06.

CONCLUSIONS

The TSK-AA demonstrated good psychometric properties in patients undergoing scoliosis surgery, which provides empirical evidence for pediatrics. Its validation in distinct populations and settings is recommended prior to its use.